The Devil's Waltz
by sickeningsweetspades
Summary: The Joker breaks out of Arkham Asylum for the first time since his attacks on Gotham. In the meantime, Bruce Wayne receives an unexpected visit from his twenty-four year old almost niece Annalise Dawes who, under the insistence of her parents, is there for reasons unexplained. What happens when the Joker kidnaps Anna? Read on as The Joker's insanity and mad obsession unfolds...
1. The Mysterious Reason

**Title:**The Devil's Waltz

**Chapter:** One

**Chapter Title:** The Mysterious Reason

**Fandom:** Batman: The Dark Knight, Batman: The Animated Series (90's)

**Genre:** Mystery/Crime/Romance

**Main Characters:** Batman, The Joker, and (OC) Annalise Dawes

**Rating:** K-Teen

**_Synopsis: About a month after The Joker is thrown into Arkham Asylum, Batman gets a call from an old friend, Rachel Dawes' brother. The call is regarding his daughter, Annalise, who is a professional ballerina. For reasons to be explained, she winds up staying at Bruce Wayne's house. Crime seems to kick up and revolve around her coming to stay with him, riddles abound and precious personal items are stolen... What will become of Annalise? Will The Joker return? Is The Riddler a part of this big scheme?_**

**A little info for you before you start the read, there is no profanity in what I write, so don't comment expecting any. I write for my own enjoyment and amusement, so I don't particularly care to be critiqued. For anyone who knows me and may question "Why Batman?" Well, I grew up watching the cartoon in the 90's and I actually enjoyed C. Nolan's take in "The Dark Knight." So you can expect those elements to be in my fiction. The world leans on being more "real" (as real as you can make a Batman story, anyway). If you haven't already checked them out, I have screenshots I draw as I write the story in my mind that will be a part of the story. I'm on DeviantArt ( .com). If you don't know me, my style of writing is romance/crime/mystery/action/intensity, yes I in fanfictions I almost always make an original character (OC). I'll probably post more drawing screenshots as I go along. **

**Please enjoy as "The Devil's Waltz" unfolds. . .**

-  
_**Chapter One: The Mysterious Reason**_

It was a brisk Thursday night in Gotham City. Two strange figures ran quickly as loud sirens blaired behind them. Both of them were very out of breath. The figure who ran faster held a little cloth bag that jingled.

"Run! The pigs are comin'!" One of them blurted out.

As fast as their legs carried them, they immediately ran down a nearby alleyway, it was very dark. They heaved a sigh of relief as the police cars sped by.

"In here!" The man with the bag pointed to a nearby door. The other nodded and began to slowly dial in the combination to the door, it klinked open. The two of them readied to go inside until, suddenly, someone they did not expect appeared.

"Miss me?" The voice said.

The two men cowered in fear. One of them began to pull out a knife.

Without another word, the moonlight barely revealed the person behind the voice - Batman.

The man with the knife lunged at Batman, only to get his wrist grabbed. Batman twisted the man's arm around so his back was facing him, and his front side faced the other thug, of whom just launched a punch - slamming the other in the face. Batman then throws him to the ground. The thug with the bag throws another punch, which Batman swiftly ducks under and rolls behind him. The thug looked around, not knowing what just happened, then he feels Batman as he picks him up and slams him into the other thug.

He fought the two thieves off without a scratch. Just as the police sirens began to pepper the ground just outside of the alleyway, Batman finished tying the two of them up.

"I thought you weren't allowed out anymore!" One of them said, astounded.

"Crime never sleeps..." He tightened the black rope around them, "and neither do I."

"They're gonna get you!" The thug who was previously carrying the bag yelled, "You'll be gone! Soon enough!"

The two officers who had been chasing the men earlier stepped outside of their car, picked up the bag that seemed to have been sat very nicely on the sidewalk and arrested the men.

"Shouldn't we be arresting The Batman?" One of the officers questioned.

"Nah, he's the least of our worries... besides, he caught'em for us, didn't he?" The other answered.

Bruce walked into his mansion, greeted by none other than Alfred.

"Evening, Sir." He followed as Bruce walked towards a comfortable looking chair, "Anything interesting out there tonight?"

Bruce shook his head, "No, just a couple of common jewelry thieves." He almost looked relieved.

"Things have certainly calmed down since that madman got sent to Arkham." Alfred commented and continued, "Anything I can get you, Master Bruce?"

"No thanks, Alfred." Bruce seemed to hang onto the thought of the "madman" or more specifically, The Joker, getting sent to Arkham. Everything was much calmer since he'd been gone, although there was the occasional minor thievery, it was nothing compared to  
mass amounts of people being threatened on a day to day basis. Just before his mind was able to drift on to think of the damage he'd caused, to him, to Harvey and most of all to Rachel, Alfred broke the silence.

"You got a message about your...almost niece today." He mentioned.

"Anna?" Bruce was surprised.

Alfred nodded, "Yes, would you like to give it a listen?"

"Of course." Bruce was anxious to hear what it was.

Alfred turned on the answering machine and Bruce put both of his hands over his mouth, closing his eyes.

"Hi! Bruce! This is Kevin... Kevin Dawes, hope you're doing well... anyways, the reason I called is because my daughter, Anna, her ballet here was completely cancelled and they've decided to move it to Gotham. The American Ballet Theatre was closed and they haven't said why, that's all we know. Besides that, what I'm asking is, can Anna stay with you for the next four months? She has a show every weekend. It's alright if you say no. If we don't hear back from you before noon time tomorrow, Anna should be there at about four or five 'o' clock. I'd like to drop her off myself, but I've got work, you know how it is, so anyway, my wife, Nola, will be the one to drop her off..."

"Hm..." Bruce contemplated the thought of having the deceased love of his life's niece stay at his house. His feelings welled up and he just wanted to grieve deeply over Rachel and all that had happened, just a little under a month ago.

The message continued, "Anna hasn't changed a bit, she's still the same ol' Anna-Banana and is as excited as ever to see you. So, guess that's it, thanks a bunch, take care, Bruce. Bye-bye."

Bruce opened his eyes and looked up at Alfred, "I don't mind if she stays. She's welcome to stay for however long she needs."

Alfred continued to give him a questioning look, "Sir...?"

"I haven't seen her since she turned five..." Bruce thought out loud, he then looked over at Alfred with further thought he added, "You know, something is off about that Theatre closing, it's never happened before. Alfred, can you look into that tomorrow?"

"My thoughts exactly, sir."

During breakfast the next morning, Bruce sat comfortably, drinking a cup of coffee with the news turned on.

The male news anchor sounded happy, as he announced, "In other news... get ready to buy some tickets! The Monarch Theatre is scheduled for its grand reopening tomorrow evening. It's been confirmed that Annalise Dawes and company from The American Ballet will be the first to set foot on its newly refurbished stage. That'll be exciting."

"Yes, it certainly will." The female anchor commented with a smile, "That's every weekend for the next four months. Definitely something you don't want to miss."

"The Monarch Theatre, huh?" Bruce recalled his memories of going there with his parents, on the very last night he'd ever see them again. It was odd to him that he would be attending the niece of Rachel's ballet at that partiular place. His thoughts continued to drift until two words broke his train of thought.

"Morning, Sir." Alfred said, sipping a cup most likely full of tea.

"Morning Alfred." Bruce noticed that Alfred was already dressed for the day, "How long have you been up?"

"Only for a few hours," He answered, "I managed to get some information you may find interesting, it's about the theatre."

Bruce was quiet as he waited for him to say what he'd found out.

"It so happens that The American Ballet Theatre was put on hold for an indefinite amount of time. They say that it's due to 'safety issues' and refuse to comment otherwise."

"That definitely sounds suspicious to me." Bruce said.

"I completely agree, sir. I'll continue to look into it." Alfred began to walk away, until something even more suspicious was announced on the television.

"Also just hitting the news, a mysterious murder was found last night," Alfred stopped and watched the news with Bruce, the anchor continued, "it shared many similarities with the murder case that took place a few weeks ago. The victim was found dead in a strange  
contraption, a computer monitor was in front of him, with a riddle permanently stuck on screen..."

Suddenly, several knocks were heard at the door.

"Can you get that, Alfred?" Bruce asked while slipping into a room to change for whoever came for a visit.

"Of course." He nodded his head and opened the door.

"Alfred!" A smiling, familiar face said, followed by a hug between them both.

"Anna!" Alfred returned her kindness, "It's been too long!" He began to look a bit puzzled, "Where's your mother?"

"She's coming, she had a call to take real quick." Anna explained.

"Ah, Master Bruce should be along shortly as well." Just as Alfred finished his sentence, Bruce came out of the room he'd gone into.

"Hi Bruce!" Anna waved as soon as she saw him. Just before they were able to reunite, a rather shrill and rigid voice followed.

"Annalise!" The very flustered looking woman said, "I told you I'd only be a minute! And-" She stopped and looked at Alfred and Bruce, "Bruce, Alfred! Hi." She grinned. The woman looked completely plastic with her blonde teased hair and ridiculous amount  
of makeup.

"Hi, Nola." Bruce replied back to her greeting, "We weren't expecting you this early. The voicemail-"

Nola cut Bruce's words short, "Ugh, Kevin has absolutely NO sense of time! He probably just forgot that today is my day to relax, it's usually like that on Friday's."

"Would the both of you like to step inside?" Alfred observed that they were still standing outside.

"Of COURSE." Alfred grabbed Anna's bag and Nola stepped inside first, pushing her way in, "This place is BEAUTIFUL Bruce! I just love how modern you keep things..."

As her voice trailed on about Bruce's house, Alfred looked at Anna, noticing her embarrassment and irritation, "Ms. Dawes, would you like to see the newly rennovated suite you'll be staying in?"

"I'd love to." She smiled, "And don't be so formal, Alfred, please. You're welcome to call me Anna, you know that."

Alfred smiled, remembering how polite she'd always been on her visits, although she was a child. As he showed Anna her suite, Bruce endured listening to Nola's rants about Anna.

"Just as a reminder, Bruce, I'm aware Anna's twenty-four now, but she's really very inexperienced. Don't let her fool you." Nola continued her reminders, "I usually won't allow her out past eleven and she shouldn't be eating any desserts, otherwise she'll gain weight and they might consider replacing her with someone else as the lead role."

"She'll be just fine, Nola." Bruce reassured her, moving his hand up to his chin as his elbow rested on a nearby surface. It was apparent Nola had always been fascinating to watch and unbearable to listen to. She made huge gestures and paced somewhat as she talked.

Without acknowledging what he'd said, she continued, "Don't let her around ANY young men. That's the last thing she needs to ruin her career with. And please don't-"

"Nola!" Bruce slightly raised his voice, finally getting her attention, "Everything will be just fine, she'll perform and I'll keep my eye on her."

Nola looked over at Anna and Alfred, who'd just arrived back in the room, then she looked back at Bruce, she smiled a cheeky smile, "You'd better keep both eyes on her!" She said with a small laugh, "Okay, bye bye sweetie!" She waved her fingertips at her daughter  
and quickly exited.

"Bye. . . mom." Anna said, wincing as the door slammed.

Anna sighed lightly, hiding the painful feeling she had in her stomach. It was always like this between her and her mother, ever since she could remember. Her mother seemed like she cared, but by the end of the day, it was all about Nola. The feeling was coming to its peak, until she felt a familiar arm around her shoulders.

"Glad you came." Bruce squeezed Anna with a small smile.

Before things could get too comfortable between them, a buzzing sound came from within Anna's coat pocket. She pulled out a little cell phone, looking to see who it was.

"Oh!" She was surprised, "It's the choreographer for the ballet."

Bruce nodded and walked a little distance away so she could take the call.

"Hi, Madison!" She smiled, "What's going on?"

Occasionally glancing over at Anna, Bruce watched her expression change into a very concerned look. Out of curiousity, Alfred listened as well.

"Why do we need to do that?" She asked, her face relaxing as things were explained to her, "Okay... alright... be there in a few... bye, Madison."

Bruce and Alfred immediately went back to what they were doing as Anna turned around to face them.

"Well, I hate to be leaving so soon, but I guess I have last minute rehearsal today." She further explained, "There's been a small change to specifically one of my acts... Madison said it was because we're going to be on a different stage."

"Well, you do whatever you have to." Bruce supported her, "I'll drop you off on my way to work and we'll spend some time together when you get back, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" Anna agreed, "Let me grab my clothes for rehearsal and we can go."

As she wandered back to the suite, Alfred and Bruce shared brief glances between each other.

"You seem... relieved, sir." Alfred said.

"I am." Bruce confirmed, walking over to the door, "She's a lady... just like her Aunt."

"Rachel would be very proud of her."

"Okay!" Anna called, walking back out, "I'm all ready to go!"

"Alright," Bruce smiled, "Alfred, hold things down here 'til we get back."

"Of course, Master Bruce." Alfred watched the both of them step outside of the door, "Have a good rehearsal, Annalise."

"Thanks." Anna replied smiling.

As they approached The Monarch Theatre, Bruce knocked all of the memories away that wanted to just pour out of his mind. And, instead, he kept his mind on nothing but Rachel's niece.

"Okay, Anna," Bruce said as she stepped out of the car, "Just give me or Alfred a call when you need to be picked up or if you need anything."

"Sure!" She replied, getting out of the dark navy blue corvette, "Thanks Bruce!" The theatre was very big and different from The American Ballet.

Bruce rolled down his window, "Have a great rehearsal!" He shouted before driving off.

Anna simply smiled and waved back. Anna felt a bit pensive walking into the theatre. It was new yet old, old with memories and a certain eerie air hanging throughout the dim building. A hand reached out and touched her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Anna! We've been waiting for you!"

"Oh, Madison, you scared me!" She breathed a few times, coming back into reality. Madison took Anna by the hand, leading her down a series of hallways.

"Sorry, chiquita, but it's mainly you we need, it's basically your part that's been slightly altered." Madison explained briskly.

"What's so different about it?" Anna asked.

"Get changed and then we'll talk, ok?"

They arrived at what would be Anna's dressing room for the next four months. She stepped inside the medium sized room and began to change.

Bruce walked with a brisk pace into Wayne Enterprises. He nodded and smiled kindly, "How's it goin?" He said quietly to the man he let on the  
elevator before himself. Finally, he arrived at the top floor of the tall building. He opened the glass doors that were down the hallway and to the  
right, greeting familiar man sitting at a desk.

"Lucius! What's new today?" Bruce asked.

"Been waiting for you, Bruce." Lucius had a certain knowing look on his face, holding both ends of a pencil in between his fingers, "We need  
to talk."

"Something wrong?" Bruce asked.

"Did you hear the news this morning?" Lucius got up to and walked over to the water dispenser, pouring water into his cup as he spoke.

"About the theatre?" His eyes were completely fixed on Lucius.

"Almost." Lucius took a drink out of his cup.

"You mean the killer, the one with the riddles." Bruce raised an eyebrow at Lucius.

"Bingo." Lucius confirmed, "You want the bad news or the good news?"

"Bad first." Bruce wasn't sure if he wanted either, but then again, he was Batman, he should be informed about these sorts of things.

"Bad news is he's killed more than they're letting out on the news," He took another drink of water, "no one wants the information to get out  
because they believe it'll scare the public and they'll lose their faith in justice. Truth is, he's probably killed anywhere from five to ten people  
at this point."

"What's the good news?" Bruce wondered what good could possibly come out of a homicidal situation.

"Good news is, he constantly leaves clues about himself. After each murder, there's a riddle left behind." Lucius paused, letting it sink in,  
"So far, we know that he only attacks people with high intellect or logic skills. He's killed several people in the scientific field as well as  
people who've won chess tournaments and the like. We know that he apparently wears a top hat, holds a cane and probably dresses  
in green."

"How do we know that?" Bruce questioned.

"Here, read this." Lucius handed Bruce a copy of one of the clues.

Bruce read it aloud, "'Gentlemen's styles never come and go, you can see my shade in between the rainbow.' So, he wears a green suit?"

"That's what everyone seems to believe." Lucius sighed, "Want to hear anymore?"

"Where do we find him? What can we do to stop him?" Bruce looked up at Lucius, who was back in his seat.

"Fortunately, we had enough working on the last puzzle he left behind and they've deciphered that he'll be in the abandoned apartments  
across town sometime tomorrow night." Lucius looked at him seriously, "We also know for a fact who it is he's taken for his little games."

After changing, Anna went to meet up with Madison and her dance instructor.

"Finally!" The instructor exclaimed, his French accent dripping from his words, "Come, come, come over here..." He gestured his hand quickly.

"So, what are we changing?" Anna asked, feeling anxious.

"During your Pas de Deux... as the black swan..." He shared a nod with Anna in between thoughts, "it has been requested by the owner, so this is extremely crucial, that upon running and turning, you must look directly at box five and nowhere else."

"What?" Anna was confused, "That makes no sense, it has nothing to do with the ballet or-"

"Anna!" Her instructor had never raised his voice with her or seemed so tense until this day. His voice was harsh and almost dominating, he calmed down a little, "If you do not, Anna... if you do not do this, the owner will never let us perform here again. We will be out of a job and destitute. So... please, I know it does not make sense... but bear with me."

Anna felt she couldn't do anything but nod and accept her job. It wasn't as if she'd been asked to go home with anyone after the performance. So, without any other question, they practiced over and over again, she would run and turn and dance looking only at box five and nowhere else. She practiced until she was able to get the long glance down to a science, without having to remember it.

The day was long and curious for both Anna and Bruce. They both stumbled into the house, a little worn and very tired.

"Evening, Master Bruce, Anna." Alfred looked between them, smiling, "Dinner is served for you both."

**-END CHAPTER ONE- **


	2. Pas De Deux

**Hello again and thanks to any single person who has read this and liked it. Here we are with part two, and more interesting setup for the story. Hopefully my characters aren't too plain and uninteresting to anybody (because I like them). If by any means you like the story, PLEASE comment about it. **

-

_**Chapter Two: Pas De Deux**_

Bruce and Anna sat down at the table, ready to eat together for the first time in a long time. On the table there was a beautiful spread of vegetables, white meats, red meats, sides and desserts. It was enough to feed ten to fifteen people at least. Bruce looked down at the table in absolute awe.

"Alfred, you really went all out!" Bruce seemed excited as he rolled up his sleeves.

Alfred leaned over to Bruce, "Anna doesn't visit every day, you know." He glanced over at Anna who'd just sat down.

"I take it this doesn't happen every day?" Anna raised her eyebrows gently.

"He's much like your father, this one." Alfred teased Bruce, "Work, work, work and he's hardly home for dinner."

"Yeah... that's my dad alright." She commented and smirked sentimentally to herself, adjusting the yellow cloth napkin on her lap.

"Enjoy." Alfred walked away briskly, giving the two of them their much needed time together.

Anna smiled and looked across to see that Bruce was already putting food on his plate. She stared for a moment longer than she realized.

Bruce stopped what he was doing and locked eyes with her, "Everything alright?"

She jumped, "Yeah! Yes... I'm so sorry. It's just so..." She struggled to find the right word, "...strange, you know?"

"Dinner? Or me eating dinner?"

She laughed out loud, "Well... yes! Both, actually." The tone in her voice became more serious, she tucked a lock of her pale blonde hair behind her right ear,"Dad's never home to eat at the table like this, and mom..." A painful look flashed across her face.

"How are things between the two of you?" Bruce asked.

"Well," The painful look had left her face, "Mom is mom. I do my ballet, she critiques me and I don't say anything."

"Have you tried talking with her?"

"Bruce, you know as well as I do that she has no idea how overbearing and distant she is!" Anna chuckled with a slight sarcasm.

Bruce raised his shoulders and chuckled a little with her, "It was just a suggestion!"

Anna smiled, "I know, I know...I just..." The seriousness settled back in her voice, "wish she'd learn to let it go. I'm not her, I won't do what she did."

"She thinks you're going to quit ballet?" Bruce assumed.

"Basically." Anna summed it all up, "She thinks I'm going to go somewhere, get all caught up with someone or something and just give up my career, like she did when she..."

"When she what?" Bruce nudged.

"She stopped for some guy, not even my dad." Anna's face contorted back to the same painful expression she tried so hard to hide before, "Then she met dad and I know things aren't... savory, between them."

"Aren't savory?" This was news to Bruce, Kevin was far too happy-go-lucky to see if something was terribly wrong.

"Mom hasn't stopped seeing the guy who she stopped for." Anna finally let out, "I'm just so angry with her. She's ruined everything and keeps on ruining everything. And she thinks that by keeping me under her thumb all the time, she'll make me into-"

"What she wanted to be." He finished her sentence.

"Right." Anna finally looked at Bruce's face again, "I just... hate her sometimes." Her crystal blue eyes blinked and relaxed, focusing on his, "Sorry about all this, I feel like some sort of teenager talking to you like I am."

He looked at her sympathetically, "I know this isn't any consolation, but, at least you have a mother." Anna smiled a little.

A brief silence calmed over them for a moment.

"Sorry to interrupt the discussion," Alfred looked between them both, "but I'm afraid Master Bruce has a very important call on the line."

Anna smiled, "That's fine," She got up from the table, along with Bruce, "I have some writing to do anyway."

"You're a writer now too?" Bruce asked curiously.

She laughed, "A girl has to keep her diary updated, you know." She gave his shoulder a couple of pats and walked towards the hallway.

"Girl?" Bruce said, "Last time I checked you were about twenty-four."

Anna smiled again and turned around, "Thanks Bruce," The sincerity enveloped her words, "for everything."

Bruce felt a calm settle over him, a calm he hadn't felt since Rachel died. He'd always seen Anna as his own family, he remembered Rachel telling him stories of when Anna began to walk, when she said her first words and so on. Although Bruce hadn't spent as much time with her as Rachel had, he still felt as if she were his own family.

-

As Anna went back into her room, she looked around, taking in her new surroundings. She ran her hand across the top of the footboard, nearing the nightstand where she'd stashed her diary. The drawer to the nightstand opened very smoothly, she grabbed her diary gingerly. The soft velvet on the front seemed a little different from the last time. She took the key that she hid so well underneath her matress and opened the little book.

Within seconds, Anna stood erect and dropped the diary, which was now found to be a mere wordless book,a decoy. Her hands covered her mouth, she stared down at the book unsure of what to think. Her hands began to shake as she picked it back up. Opening the cover up, she read the strange and disturbing message that was written inside of it.

"Hello, Anna." The words stood out as if from a horror film, "Your liberation awaits you."

She walked, diary in hand, out of her room and on a quest to find Bruce.

"Bruce?!" She called out, "Where are you?!"

Backing up and looking around in circles, she couldn't find him. Suddenly, she let out a yelp as she ran into someone.

"OH! Bruce!" She became frantic, her hands shaking, "I-I went and there was writing and-"

"It's alright Anna," Bruce said, putting his hands on her shoulders, "What's wrong?"

Shaking, she handed him the little book. He opened it and gazed at the simple, yet horrifying, sentence.

He looked back up at Anna, "I'll take care of this, don't you worry about a thing."

She nodded, Alfred took her into his arms nearby and calmed her down.

"I'm going out for the night." Bruce said, determined.

"Shall we be expecting you back at any time, sir?"

"Not at a time I can name." The look on his face had changed, no longer soft, but instead firm and a hint of steel in his eyes.

With that, Bruce jumped into his dark lamborgini and drove off to the one place he knew to look for Anna's mysterious stalker.

-

Arkham Asylum wasn't exactly the ideal place to visit on a breezy night. But Bruce knew that this was the only place capable of producing someone who was able to get their hands on such a thing as personal as a diary. Pulling up to the massive, high security prison, Bruce was prepared for almost anything at this parked, stepped out of the car  
and locked the doors with a press of his keychain. Placing the keys inside his inner jacket pocket, he boldly walked up to the Asylum. Upon entering, it was hard to avoid the eerie feeling that came along with being inside the place.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne." A nearby nurse greeted him. He returned with a nod of the head and approached her desk.

"Can you tell me the name of the doctor who's overseeing Victor Zsasz?" He watched her eyes flicker with surprise and a slightly uncomfortable feeling. Immediately, the young nurse typed into her computer.

"Yes..." She finally replied, "Dr. Cassidy, Sarah Cassidy."

"Is she-"

"Sarah's not on his file anymore." An older nurse interjected, "She was just taken off last week because of an incident with the patient."

"Incident?" Bruce asked.

The older nurse nodded, "Mm hmm, Dr. Whistler is interviewing the patient now."

"Is Dr. Whistler... here?" He inquired further.

"She should be. Her shift is probably almost over, though." The younger nurse replied, "Let me call her for you." She dialed an extension number into the wired phone she was using. Bruce looked down the hallway to the right. There were thick, metal doors, most likely pad locked with a code that varied from week to week. Just to think that past those doors were some of the most insane and most wanted criminals in all of Gotham.

"Mr. Wayne?" A voice broke his train of thought, "She'll be right with you." The nurse smiled.

Bruce smiled and gave a nod as the nurse plucked out a clipboard and walked away briskly.

It wasn't five minutes later that Bruce was greeted by a woman with dark brown hair in a white lab coat.

"Evening, Mr. Wayne." Her French accent hung heavily over her words.

"Evening."

"My name is Dr. Gretchen Whistler." She shook his hand, "There's something I can help you with?"

"Yes," He took out the small book from his pocket, "I believe one of your patients is responsible for this."

Her glasses fell to the tip of her nose as she read the page, "Yes, this is definitely the work of Mr. Zsasz."

"This book was swapped with my niece's diary." He explained, "I don't know about you, but it greatly concerns me that some psycho has the ability to read her personal thoughts and experiences as we speak."

"And it concerns me that one of my patients has somehow gained access to the outside world." The look on her face expressed extreme worry and very little hope, "I can assure you, though, that he is in his cell at this moment. I can meet with him right now, if you'd like."

"Please." Bruce replied immediately.

"Very well, follow me." She motioned. The two of them walked through the large steel doors Bruce had been looking at not just five minutes ago. The asylum was big, there were see through rooms everywhere. Contained within the rooms were men and women in straight jackets. Bruce noticed one of the patients licking the glass as he walked by. Some just watched him and others sat in the corners of their cell drowning in their insanity.  
Finally, they came to a hault.

"Guards!" She motioned as two bigger security guards came over, "I need to have a word with ." Dr. Whistler looked back at Bruce, "Here," She handed him what looked like a small walkie talkie, "you'll be able to hear everything."

She placed the other in her pocket. She typed in the code to the door and the pressure locks quickly opened. The metal door slammed behind her, Bruce listened anxiously.

"Mr. Zsasz." Dr. Whistler said, "I need to have a few words with you."

He sighed audibly, "What now?"

"Do you mind explaining this?" She tossed the book at him. He merely glanced at it.

"Oh don't remind me!" He complained, his gestures big and dramatic.

"How did you get this?" She demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." He taunted quietly.

"What was that?" She said.

Suddenly, he had an outburst, "It just isn't fair! She would have been one of the most prized marks I've ever had! I pulled so many strings to get that diary!" The guards held his shoulders.

"What strings Victor?!" She yelled at him.

"..." At first he refused to answer, "Big... strings..."

"So where is it then?" Her voice became even more firm.

"I... don't... KNOW!" He yelled at her.

"Enough, guards!" She motioned for the guards to restrain him as she left the room.

Bruce looked over at Dr. Whistler, as flustered as she was, walking towards him from the cell. He stood to meet her.

"I'm terribly sorry." She said, "I honestly believe he doesn't know where it went."

"Me too." Bruce added, "So the question is... who took it from him?"

"Truth be told, Mr. Wayne," She concluded, "He may have never received it in the first place."

-

The events to follow on Saturday were abnormally calm and subdued. The morning and afternoon proceeded without any special bullitins or warnings. Finally, Bruce readied himself for the evening, knowing all too well that something was going to go wrong. He wasn't sure when or where, but he was completely sure something would go terribly, terribly wrong. Why, it was just a mere week and a half ago he'd sent the most insane of them all to Arkham Asylum. Crimes seemed to fade for a few days, but were only proving to kick back up in previous weeks. Just what did it all mean?

Bruce adjusted his tie and cleared his throat. A steady rain fell just outside the window, a gentle thunder rumbled in the background.

"Bruce?" Anna's voice echoed through the house, "I'm leaving!"

He walked out of his room and down the hallway, leaning over the balconey overlooking the entryway, he replied, "Yeah?"

"My ride is here!" She called up to him, catching sight of him, she added, "You look great! The show starts in an hour! See you there!"

"Okay! I'll be there..." He said, "See you on stage!"

She smiled and waved her hand at him as she went out the front door. Holding her purse over her head, she quickly sat down in the backseat of a big, black limo. Anna, along with 19 other young women, were being escorted to one of many big events in their lives. Chatting, texting and giggling abounded among all of them. Anna joined in with the rest of them, equally as excited for their big debut in Gotham.

After they arrived, Anna hurried back to her dressing room.

"Twenty minutes!" Madison called down the hallway of rooms, "But try to be ready in five, ladies!"

Anna, who was already dressed and ready, looked down at her left hand. She adjusted the little gold ring with the black diamond heart on it, considering whether or not she should wear it during the performance. Remembering the memory tied to the ring, of how her father had bought it for her the day she began her dance lessons. "The ones that love us never really leave us..." He said, "You can always find them in here..." He pointed to  
her heart. He then pulled out the little ring from his pocket and continued, putting it on her finger, "This will always remind you that I'm always with you, no matter what."

"Oh daddy!" She exclaimed, "It's beautiful! Where did you get it?"

"From a person who I know would have wanted you to have it." He smiled.

"Anna?" A voice ended her memory.

"Yes?"

"You're on in five." Madison reminded her.

"Of course!" She said, smiling. Anna gave herself one final look before charging out of the room to go backstage.

-

Bruce pulled up to the Theatre, his mind was anxious about many things. He remembered that last night he'd spent with his parents, how he blamed himself for their deaths. It had all happened at this theatre. Fighting the agonizing thoughts, he got out of his car, allowing the valet service to take care of it for him. He looked over the various posters for upcoming events, coming up to the one of Anna, dressed as the white swan.

"Hm..." He looked her over in the picture, noticing the small ring that seemed somewhat out of place on her pinky.

"Here for the show tonight?" One of the ushers asked.

He nodded and went in to find his seat. The lights dimmed and finally went out as the dancers took their places on stage. After about fourty minutes, Anna appeared on stage in the second act as the white swan. She was extremely easy to spot, as she was the only blond ballerina. She danced with grace, dignity and a profound innocence. All too soon, however, intermission came. Bruce went to get a drink of water from one of the fountains in the lobby. He nodded and said hello to a few men and women walking by him. Hunching over, he took a drink.

"Bruce," An unexpected voice caught him off guard, it was Lucius.

"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked, facing him quickly.

"You need to head over to the other side of town, now." He ordered.

"Why? I can't just leave Anna here. Or something will-"

"This is a setup." He cut him off sharply, "Forget about the girl, forget about anything happening here." He explained, "We just received notice, thanks to our green suited friend, that this entire theatre reopening is a setup to keep 'Batman' away from the real crime that's going on. My word of advice, I think green suit knows who you are."

"That's no good." Bruce said, contemplating the information, "Tell me the details and I'll be there as quick as possible."

"Alright," Lucius continued as the two of them headed out the door, "It's that old, abandoned warehouse between Thirty-Fourth and Main Street. We've managed to locate him, he already has a hostage who's most likely on the brink of death."

"Gotcha." Bruce ended the conversation, walking to his car.

-

Intermission was over, the time had come for Anna to dance as the black swan. She felt exhilerated and completely alive as her acts had gone on. Anna stepped onto the stage, dressed in black. She danced the part ferociously, enchanting the audience. In the middle of her pas de deux, Anna began her thirty-two fouettes, staring at box five. There was no one there, or so she thought. On her final turn, she caught sight of what seemed to be a person in the shadows, smiling. The sight caught her so off guard, she near fumbled her next move. She was unable to take her eyes off of box five and the possible person who may be sitting there in the darkness.

Frantically, she looked out to the audience for the familiar face of Bruce Wayne, but to no avail. Those sitting in the front row questioned her sudden panic and near fumble. Her eyes darted back up to box five. With a final spin, her part ended and she went behind the curtain to the left.

"What is it? What's wrong?" One of the other dancers asked her.

"I'm not sure." She replied, "My Uncle. . . Bruce Wayne, what happened to him?"

Overhearing her, the ballet manager approached her, "He left during intermission."

"What for?" Anna worried.

"Business, he said."

"Oh..." Her eyes trailed off, peering out into the audience, up at box five and where Bruce had previously been sitting.

She knew not whether she should trust herself. Had it all been in her head?

**END CHAPTER TWO**


	3. Rothbart

**Hi again! In case anyone reads this chapter title and is wondering, "What in the world is Rothbart?" Well, lemme give you some history (if you don't already know), Rothbart (or Von Rothbart) is the central antagonist (bad guy) in the ballet Swan Lake. *Super Long Explaination* XD (Disregard if you already know).**

Asides from a ballet, what's Swan Lake? Swan Lake's story is about a Princess named Odette who falls in love with a Prince who wants to marry her. However, the jealous antagonist, Rothbart, steals Odette away and turns her into "The White Swan." He also uses his own daughter, Odile, to become "The Black Swan" (which is Odette's lookalike) to fool the Prince. Because, if in the case of Odette being "The White Swan" and the Prince vows his eternal love to another, she is a swan forever.

The ballet features two endings. The happy ending: where Odette turns back into a human and she and the Prince destroys Rothbart. They live happily ever after, with a bunch of white swans dancing in front of the two of them. And the sad ending (the one featured in my story): where the Prince claims his eternal love for Odile instead of Odette. Odette, realizing she will never be with the one she loves, flies off to die in the dance "The Dying Swan." Upon realizing what a foolish mistake he's made, the Prince goes to die after her. Lovely ending, isn't it? (ha)

I'm not sure about you readers, but I love ballet. I find it full of culture and entertainment (for the most part). Swan Lake is one of my more favorite ballets. If you think you'd be a ballet person, look up "Swan Lake ballet" on YouTube - they probably have the whole thing posted on there. If you aren't a ballet person but like music, check out the famous music from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky - it's wonderful. At the very least, watch a ballerina dance "The Dying Swan", it's beautiful. And if you don't really care about all that, but like my fanfiction, I think that's just glorious (LOL).

Thanks so much to all of my readers out there! Deviantart members or not. Love it when I get pleasant feedback.

In case anyone ever wonders, although I love drawing scenes to my own fanfiction, if any of you feel so inspired by any of my writing - feel more than free to draw it, I'd love it.

Anyways, enough of the blabber, here's chapter three 

-

**_Chapter Three: Rothbart_**

Batman weaved in and out of traffic quickly while in his pod. He rushed to the abandoned warehouse on Thirty-Fourth and Main Street. His tires skid as he parked outside  
the dark and decaying building. He pressed on his left ear to talk to Lucius, "I'm in." He said, "Where's the victim located?"

"Victim is located on the top floor." He instructed, "Victim's name: Frank Gibbs, he's this year's Loebner prize winner. Be careful, we're sure the place is booby trapped."

"So am I." He replied, "And what's Loebner?"

"It's a test to see who creates the most intelligent A.I., apparently Frank really beat everyone else out this year." Lucius elaborated, "The police are on their way, so be on  
the lookout for that too."

"Will do. Thanks Lucius." Batman made his way into the cobweb filled, dark warehouse. He grappled his way up the levels of the warehouse, some of the floors collapsing as he made his way up. Finally, and unexpectedly, he found the victim. There stood Frank, a screen in front of his face as he dangled over a rigged floor. If triggered, the  
floor would collapse and Frank would drop to his death.

"Frank." Batman said calmly, causing the man to tremble and whimper, he continued, "It's okay Frank. You're not going to die today."

Walking over to Frank, Batman noticed the metallic clasps around his arms.

"They won't come off!" Frank said, "Th-they won't come off unless I press the red button and say the right answer!"

A small stick with a red button on the end was taped into Frank's hand.

"Hm..." Batman pondered, and pressed his left ear again, "Lucius, something's not right here. I'm with Frank, there were no traps, no games. Just an open victim. He has a  
button in his hand. Could you by any chance track the button when I press it?"

"...That is strange." Lucius agreed, "Yeah, I think I could manage that. Alright, you free Mr. Gibbs and I'll try and figure out what's going on."

Turning his attention back to Frank, Batman read the screen in front of him, the letters all in green, "Riddle me this: A man jumps out of a 20-story building. He falls all the  
way to the ground below, and lands on solid concrete with nothing to cushion his fall. The man gets up, still alive and completely uninjured. How is this possible?"

Batman smirked, as the answer was all too easy, he pressed the button in Frank's hand, "That's easy, the man may have been in a 20-story building... but he was only on  
the first floor."

"Batman! HAH!" The voice on the other end replied curtly, "You may have gotten the right answer, but no matter, Frank had this coming! Hahahahaha!"

With that, the metal clasps released on Franks arms as he began to plummet towards the ground. Fortunately, Batman grappled an iron stud sticking out of the ceiling and dove  
after Frank, saving him.

"We've got him tracked and surrounded." Lucius informed him, "He's in the basement of the same warehouse. If you flush him out, we've got'em."

"Sure thing." Batman performed a gentle glide to the ground, Frank in hand.

"Oh! Thank you so much Batman!" He sighed, sweating.

"No problem. The police are just outside, let them know their green suited murderer will be out shortly too." He instructed.

Frank nodded and ran outside. Batman ran down the stairs he'd walked past just a few moments ago. Sure enough, there sat a sort-of lanky man in a green suit, hunched over  
and looking at computer screens that monitered the outside of the building.

"Those stupid cops, they'll never suspect to look down here..." He muttered to himself.

"But I did." Batman made his presence known.

"What?!" The man turned around, "How did you-?!"

"And you are?" Batman was not impressed.

With that question, the man suddenly had an arrogance sweep over him, "Why I'm the Riddler! No one can beat my riddles. And even if they do... they don't." He bragged.

"Then how did I manage to save Frank and find you?" Batman questioned.

The Riddler merely laughed it off, "Haha ho! Oh Batman, my good friend. You fail to see the true meaning. Although you saved one life, it may not be everything you thought it would be."

"You're coming with me." Batman grabbed him, forcing him up the stairs of the basement.

"Very well!" He said nonchalantly, "It seems I have no other choice..."

Before facing the cops, Riddler smirked and said only to Batman, "Riddle me this, Batman: I am tall and graceful, but only when grown. Grey, white and black, but only sometimes shown. What am I?"

Batman pushed the Riddler out amongst the police and receded back into the darkness, "Lucius, did you hear that?"

"Sure did," He replied, "I'm on it."

"Anna's ballet is over, she should be headed home by now." He said, then gave it more thought, "It's a swan, the answer is a swan."

"Of course it is." Lucius sounded distraught, "You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you..."

"I had a feeling about that..." He replied, now heading back towards the theatre.

"Wilson Fisk is the one who bought out the theatre. He may not have bought it directly, but he's got everything to do with it..."

"I knew something didn't seem quite right." Batman thought out loud, "Any particular reason why he wanted to buy the theatre?"

"Money, we're sure." Lucius said.

"I don't think he's the only one in on this..." Batman flew over the buildings of Gotham, mauling over the puzzle in his head. It was all so complicated, yet so simple. But, unfortunately, the mastermind escaped his thoughts, "If you can, have them evacuate the theatre as quick as possible, I'm sure there's going to be an attack on the people there."

"Already ahead of you."

-

Anna lifted her arms up, looked towards the ceiling and fell behind the props and scenery. The white swan died, the prince fell after and Anna had again completed another stunning performance. Smiling, Anna walked out to take several bows in front of an enthusiastic audience. Still curious where Bruce had gone off to, she looked at his seat one last time.

"Superb job tonight Anna!" Her manager complemented, "So passionate for a first 'dying swan' performance."

"Thanks!" She glowed, "You know, there was something more meaningful about this ending compared to the other."

"Oh?" He wondered, "What do you mean?"

"Just the thought of death, opposed to living without the one you love." She explained, "There's something terribly romantic about that."

"Haha," He laughed, patting her on the shoulder and began to walk away, "Indeed, Anna. Fantastic job."

Anna smiled, patting her face with a towel she'd grabbed backstage. Shutting the door to her dressing room, Anna took off her feathers and took out her bun,letting her long hair flow. She sighed and got dressed back in her clothes she'd worn upon arriving. As Anna leaned over the sink to wash the makeup off her face, she heard rustling outside of her dressing room. She cracked open her door and peered out at one of the security guards, of whom was attempting to suffocate Madison.

"No...NO!" Madison screamed, "PLEASE!" Her eyes met with Anna's as she stretched out her arm towards her, "ANNA!"

Anna couldn't help but tremble at the sight of the size of the man, but she was convinced she had to do something or no one else would. Luckily for her, Kevin Dawes was all about his daughter's safety and made her take self defense classes since she was a small child. How naieve she'd been to think she'd never have to use it, especially at her place of work. Anna took courage and opened the door to her room.

"Hey you!" She called over to the big guy, "What's your problem?!"

"Hm?" He grunted, turning to face her. Suddenly, he dropped an unconcious Madison. Upon getting a look at her, he laughed, "Awww, what a cute little girl!  
You gonna curtsey for me?! BAH HAhahaha!"

Anna was completely put out by his arrogant demeanor, "You jerk!" She proceeded to attack him with a series of kicks that he didn't expect. He lugged a few punches at her, but was far too big and slow. Anna, being small, nimble and quick, was able to flip circles around him. Eventually, one of her kicks landed right on his left temple, knocking him out cold. Anna sighed and curtsied next to his body. Unfortunately, two other security guards who were supposed to be watching over her, happened to not be security guards.

"Did you see that?!" One of them exclaimed.  
"Yeah!" The other said, "I think she needs to be punished!"

Anna readied herself for another fight. Until, someone interrupted them, pushing past the guards.  
"Get out of the way, you're scaring her. . ." A man, with his face painted sloppily as a clown, said, turning all his attention on Anna, "Sorry, these boobs don't know what they're doing." He came far too close for comfort, merely inches away from her face, his voice turned into a low growl, "They just DON'T KNOW how to handle themselves around  
such a beautiful woman..." He seized Anna by the back of her head, handling her with a rough hand and pulling on her hair. She stared up at him and without another word, kneed  
him in the side as hard as she could. To her surprise, he began to laugh while holding his side, backing away from her a couple of steps.  
"Hahahaah! Ohh, do it again!" He taunted her.  
Anna took this opportunity to kick the large gun he was carrying out of his hand up into the air and into her own hands. But, this just made the strange man in the purple suit laugh even more, Anna slightly lowered her guard with confusion. His laughing ended abruptly and his face became completely serious, deadly even.

"Well, it looks like we've got a live one here..." He stooped low, pulling out a smaller gun and pulling the trigger. She flinched, but only to realize a little red sign with the word 'bang' written on it came out of the gun. Anna looked at it in total confusion, the man shrugged. He pointed it at her once more, casually pulling the trigger, the same sound coming out of the gun. Only this time, the sign fell out followed by a sharp pain in Anna's leg. She crippled to the ground, gritting her teeth and dropping the gun. "Tah-daah." He said, acting as if it were some sort of trick. He pointed between his thugs and Anna, instructing, "Pick her up, let's take the fun somewhere else."

One of the guards attempted to sling her over his shoulder. However, Anna was determined to get away. Although one of her legs was in great pain, she still had her other leg and both of her arms. She got up, grimacing from the pain. There had to be a way to escape, she thought quickly as the thug came towards her. The gun she'd taken but a few moments ago was still in hand. Putting it to good use, she defended herself, hitting him in the head with the butt of the gun. Anna turned and ran down the hallway to the darker side of the theater, heinous laughter echoed behind her. The bullet wound cried out to her to stop running, but if she did, her life would surely not be her own anymore. She could hear footsteps behind her, they were getting closer and closer by the second. Two rooms lay to her right and left, but she knew that neither would be safe to go into. At last, she spotted her savior, the prop lockers. On the outside they appeared very thin and impossible to put anything into, but if you opened them (and if you had the code to open them) they were extremely spacious. Anna clicked in the code and got inside the locker just in time. She began to hear voices.

"You," the clown instructed, "go into that room, and you go into that room. She couldn't have gone far, there's one hallway that way and nothing else." The two thugs grunted and went their separate ways. The clown grumbled to himself, "Ya gotta do it right, ya do it yourself..." He walked off in another direction.

Anna could hear them destroying the rooms they'd been instructed to search for her. She knew they'd eventually catch onto her being in one of the lockers. Anna had to think and she had to think fast. Just then, she remembered the ventilation system. It wasn't in use this time of year and it'd be a great place to make her escape. Anna opened the latch from inside the locker, it slowly - and quietly - opened. As quick as she could, Anna hopped up on top of the lockers and opened the large vent grate.

"Did you hear somethin'?" One of the thugs called across the hallway.  
"Yeah, better go check it out." The other replied. Footsteps were coming quickly.

Anna strained, forcing herself up into the hole. Once inside, she crawled forward a few steps. Exhausted, her body lay limp, flat on the cold metal. She could hear the thugs talking beneath her.

"In here!" One of them said. Anna gathered they were probably looking inside the lockers she'd just barely escaped. She could hear them throwing all the items inside out of the lockers, they hit the walls and bounced a couple of times on the floor. Taking a deep breath in, she mustered up all the strength and energy she had and began to crawl through the vents. Anna followed her sense of direction and headed for the theater lobby. It was going to be a long crawl, but well worth it once she got there and out of harm's way. Anna peered through the occasional grate she'd cross over, hearing the occasional thug retracing his steps. Finally, she reached the lobby. With haste, Anna picked up the grate and sat it aside, she held onto the edges of the vent, lowering her body until she let go and landed on the ground. She had forgotten she was injured and fell to one knee. Limping quickly towards the front door, she could see the cop cars outside. Anna sighed, pushing on the lever, she was but a moment away from the outside. Until she found, the door would not open. A single-handed applause could be heard behind her.

"Ah-ha ha ha haAh." The man with the sloppy clown makeup clapped, "What a performance..." He walked over to her, gesturing, "To think, someone of your "status" could deliver such a  
spectacular show!" He became uncomfortably close, "Ohh, I do love the games you play, Annaah Bananahh..."

She knew she could no longer hide from this man, this thing that had somehow singled her out and hunted her down. With fear and nervousness filling her heart she asked the only thing that she could think to ask, "What do you want from me?"

His laugh pierced the tension in the air, "What-?! HAhaha! What do I want from you?!" His laughing stopped as he grabbed her wrist, "Everything, kid."  
"Let the girl go, Joker!" A masked, hooded figure called over. Anna recognized him instantly, it was Batman, the one who kept Gotham safe, the one who she knew was going to save her in this very moment. As for the man she did not recognize, the one who claimed to want everything from her, he was now identified. She was unsure why she didn't recognize him sooner, he was all over the news and was supposedly the one who killed her Aunt Rachel. The Joker was completely famous and Anna felt completely clueless.  
"Hahahaha!" The Joker laughed, "So the Bats came out to play?"

"Let her go, you don't want me to end things here, do you?" Batman retorted.  
"End things?! BAH Hahahahah!" The Joker bantered, "You can't just... end things, Batsy... but-"  
Anna jerked her wrist out of The Joker's grasp. This seemed to make him remember he'd grabbed her in the first place. He looked back at her with a sick satisfaction in his half-lidded eyes, looking down at her, he finished his thought, "But I can."

The Joker pulled out a gun, bashing Anna in the head with it. She heard laughter, she saw smoke. Everything became very hazy. Soon, everything went black.

**END CHAPTER THREE**


	4. The Prince

**Hey everybody! So, I'm thrilled to see I have followers! ^0^ woop woop **

**In case anybody wonders what time frame my story supposedly takes place, it's in between TDK and yet another fandom – The Joker Blogs. Check'em out, they're on YouTube and I'll have a few references here and there to them, as I appreciate their work for being guys with not a lot to work with. Oh, and I'm aware that -spoiler- Harley is already interviewing him straight away in the TJB, however, it's been stated in the cartoon that it took her three months to get an interview with him and that was before she became an intern there... and who knows what he did in the meantime? (total excuse for my fanfiction XD) **

**Thanks so much for reading and following and all that great stuff! Hope it's entertainment for you. :) :) :)**

**I wrote lots for this one so, enjoy chapter four. . .**

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Prince**

"Anna..." A voice called out to her, "...Anna..." She could see her father and Bruce reaching for her. She ran towards them as they faded away into the darkness. "Wait!" She called, "Come back!" It was no use. "Aannnaaa..." The voice drug on. "Anna!" Her mother's voice yelled at her, her eyes opened suddenly. She was at Bruce's house, in her room. She sat up and looked around, the house held an empty feeling.

"Bruce?!" She called out.

"Alfred?!" She kept calling, "Hello?!"

No one was anywhere to be found. "Ouch!" She grasped her leg where it had been shot. The blood dripped from her leg, drenching the bed as well as her hand. Looking at her palm, Anna watched the blood expand up her arm.

"What... what's going on?!" It began engulfing her as she sank into her mattress, "No! STOP!" She screamed.

Her eyes opened, her breaths were heavy and she was drenched in, not blood, but water. Her back was to a wall and she was seated in an empty room on the floor. She felt her wrists handcuffed on a short chain as she attempted to put her hands on her wound, which was throbbing and open. She pulled a few times, but it was no use. Looking at her surroundings again, she was not at Bruce's house, certainly not there at all. Her head was dropped down with her chin near her chest, her eyes rolled back a little from exhaustion. The room was old, walls were peeling and cracked, the wood flooring's finish was coming off too. Wherever she was, was certainly no place she ever wanted to be again. Finally, her eyes fixated on the figure who'd been standing in one of the corners of the room.

"You know..." The Joker spoke, "I always thought it was the black swan who died in the end..."

Anna didn't take lightly to his banter, although exhausted, she retorted, "You won't get away with this!"

He cackled at her briefly, "Seems to me I've gotten away with quite a lot of things, Anna Banana."

"Don't you DARE call me that!" She yelled at him, her neck outstretched, she began to lift off the ground slightly.

He laughed, "I'll call you what I want! And if that means..." He hurried over to her, grabbing her hair and pushing her face close to his, "And if that means calling you by your daddy's pet name for you, then so be it." Unexpectedly, he took his hand off her, and gestured, "What's in a name, right?" He walked towards the door. Anna kept pulling the chain and handcuffs that kept her against that wall. She wanted to finish what she'd started, she wanted the chance to have that gun back, a chance to shoot and injure the man that had done the terrible thing to her – the man that had killed her Aunt Rachel not too long ago.

"What do you want from me?!" She shouted at him. He only smirked, walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Her head sank, her heart was heavy with grief, she had no idea how long she'd been there or if her life would come to the same end as Rachel's. Would she escape? Everything felt so unsure. Just as the thoughts came pouring into her mind, she heard thumps, thuds and grunts outside of the room. The door whipped open, a very flustered looking Joker came back in, running over to her. He hunched down in front of her, putting his arms around to where her wrists were locked together.

He chuckled, "Looks like the Bats came out to plaaay..." She felt him detach the chain, he kept held of it, walking her like some sort of animal. He rushed her down the hallway and to the outside. She limped as fast as she could, grimacing with every step. The Joker shoved Anna into the backseat of a large, black van with the windows tinted just as black. He still kept a hold of the chain attached to her handcuffs. Anna stared at the Joker, how she despised him and all he had done to her and her family. Her thoughts were cut short by sirens following them. Five, ten, maybe more cop cars began following them through Gotham. The van was driven recklessly by a random thug, there were three others in the van as well. She had never feared more for her life than she did sliding around in the backseat of some unmarked black van.

"You," The Joker instructed one of the armed thugs next to him, "Hold onto this..." He handed over the chain attached to Anna.

Shortly after, he grabbed a large gun – what seemed to be a bazooka – and opened the sliding door to the van. He shot at the cop cars, sending them sky high in flames and explosions. The Joker laughed maniacally.

Anna took a deep breath in, watching the road outside of the door. They were going so quickly, it had to be well over the speed limit. Anna only had one option, jump or die trying. She realized the thug who had a hold on the chain had let go enough so she was able to fight back. She yanked the chain out of his hands and hopped through her own arms so her hands were in front of her body. Bashing the thug over the head, the next thug tried to grab her as she kicked him in the face. The thug driving and the one sitting next to him in the front had no idea what was going on. Finally, she turned around to face her last enemy, the Joker. He stopped laughing once he realized something was going on inside of the van. He turned and both Anna and the Joker made eye contact. There was no choice, she knew what she had to do.

Anna put her arms around the Joker and shoved the two of them out of the van. She could feel the road rash as the two of them hit the ground, skidding and rolling like a ball together down the street. Some cop cars skidded and stopped for them and others just kept pursuing the van. The Joker laughed the entire time they rolled together, surely he felt pain from what had happened. Anna could feel the bruises and the scrapes abounding across her body. They had finally stopped rolling down the road. Cops began to rush towards them. The Joker got up, seemingly unscathed and not at all shocked by what she did.

"Well well," He looked at her arms still around him, "Quite the romantic, aren't we?" He held her close to him, as well as a gun to her and backed into an alleyway.

"Oh Anna Banana... you make things so difficult..." He made it sound so normal, scolding her like a parent would a child.

"Joker!" The cops called, surrounding the alley, "We know you're back there! Come out now with the girl alive and your hands up!"

"I don't think so..." He said, booting open a door in the alley. A figure moved in the darkness of the store he'd booted into.

"There's a Bat..man..." He said watching as the figure faded and moved into the darkness.

Anna looked over her shoulders, her arms still slung around the Joker. Anna was too small to take advantage of the situation, as she considered her options, there really aren't many when a gun is pointed at your side. The Joker walked backwards a ways, Anna saw the smile on his face, his eyes shifting from left to right. He enjoyed what was going on.

"Drop her." Batman growled at him.

"Oh, ho ho... so presumptuous..." The Joker taunted, "Looks to me like _she's_ the one who needs to do the dropping." He gave them both a knowing look.

"He means it," Another voice said as another gun was cocked, "drop the girl." Anna looked over her left shoulder, it was a cop, a young one.

The Joker took it all in stride and looked down at Anna, "Sorry, babe. Don't look so sad." He backed away from the cop and Batman, ducked under her arms, "Here's a little..." He reached into his jacket, "parting gift..." He tossed a bomb, laughed and jumped out the window. Batman grabbed Anna and the three of them made their way out of the store, through the same window, before it went up in flames.

"Here..." Batman handed her over to the young cop, "Take her to the hospital, she's wounded."

"Will do." He replied. Batman went off in the direction of the Joker.

"I'm Officer Blake," He said, "you can call me Robin, it's going to be alright."

Anna nodded, "Thank you..."

An emergency vehicle had caught up with all the action, pulling over to Robin and Anna. Anna was loaded into the back on a bed, bandages were bound around her bullet wound from the other day. Robin joined her and the emergency crew, he stared at her the entire time. She only wondered what he was thinking about the situation.

"That was really brave." He broke the silence.

"What was?" She smiled, half-hearted.

"Jumping out of a van like that." He explained, "You could have easily been killed."

She smiled more genuinely, "But I wasn't."

* * *

Batman flew through the streets and alleyways of Gotham, unseen and looking for The Joker. He wasn't able to find anything or anyone who'd seen the madman fleeing the crime scene. Defeated, Batman decided Bruce Wayne would be the best option for the rest of the evening, after all, Anna did just get sent to the hospital after having quite the day spent with The Joker. Bruce concluded that visiting her would be for the best.

As he approached Anna's room, he listened for a few moments outside the door.

"Thanks for staying, Robin." She thanked the young man.

"No problem." He replied, "Do you have any family around here?"

She smiled and looked down at her hands clasped across her waist, "Not in Gotham. . ." She thought for a moment and continued, "And even..." She considered finishing the sentence, glancing up at Robin briefly, she decided to say it, "...even if they were, I wouldn't want them here, you know?"

"Wow..." He sat back in his chair, "That's surprising. I was an orphan, myself. I have no idea how that must feel." Anna had a hard time looking at him as he explained, "I always thought if I had family, I'd want them there for me no matter what." Robin figured what he just said must have been the wrong thing, considering the pretty girl's silence, "Sorry. I get kind of carried away when it comes to those things."

Anna smiled and made eye contact once more, "It's okay. I understand."

She felt the weight of his stare, unsure of why he would be staring at her.

"I know this is the worst time possible to be asking this... but..." He looked around nervously, running his hand down his head and neck.

"Hey Anna." Bruce walked in with a "get well" balloon in hand, "Officer." He greeted Robin.

"Oh hey, so my Uncle does love me after all!" She laughed while Bruce tied the balloon to the edge of the bed.

"Bruce Wayne is your uncle?" Robin asked, confused.

"Almost..." She smiled and looked at Bruce with a knowing look.

"With the history between our families, I ought to be." He focused on Robin, "And shouldn't you be... on duty or something?" Bruce gestured between him and the door.

"Actually, I've been off for awhile." He replied, "But, it's late... so I guess I'll get going." He headed towards the door.

"Robin?" Anna called before he exited, "What was that question you were going to ask me?"

"Question?" He turned to face them.

"Yeah, before Bruce got here." She reminded him. Why did she have to remind him? If he were to ask, he was more than sure Bruce Wayne would rather shoot him in the head than have his, basically niece, asked out by some non-Batman officer.

"Uhmm..." He considered his options and replied appropriately, "I can't remember. I'll let you know if I do." He smiled.

She smiled back, "Hold on." She grabbed the pen and notepad sitting on the nightstand and scribbled something on it, Bruce and Robin exchanged glances, "Here," she held out the paper to him. He took it out of her hand, "Call me when you remember that question."

He tried to be as professional as possible, "Will do." He nodded at the both of them and exited the room. "Yes!" He thought to himself, shaking a victorious fist in the air.

Bruce looked at her, half smiling and half irritated with her.

"This is **the** worst place _ever_ to ask a girl out." He laughed to himself.

She smiled, "He didn't ask me out!"

"Even worse!" Bruce laughed, "You just handed him out your number like it was candy."

"It doesn't mean we're going on a date!" Her smiled turned into a grin, "Bruce... please... he still has to ask me."

"So you wanted him to?"

Anna raised an eyebrow and smirked, "And if I did?"

"I'll have to have a talk with him."

"Bruce!" She scolded as he smirked jokingly.

"Not now..." He thought, "But eventually..."

**END CHAPTER FOUR**


	5. Odette

**Hello everybody! :) So, here's chapter five, things start to get interesting again. Can't say I'm terribly crazy about Anna's role in this one - as she *spoiler alert* is more of a damsel in this one. BUT, the story does have to move along, and she can't play tough girl all the time.**

**I like her... how should I say budding relationship with a certain someone though. Anyways, read, enjoy, be entertained, hopefully like it, review it. I love good reviews, but I hardly get any. XD**

**Chapter Five: Odette**

"So... uh... yeah! Just calling to see how you're doing and... uh... wanted to maybe talk for a bit... so... uh... I'll hear from you soon? ...Bye Anna..." His voice was very nervous as she paced the living room of Wayne Manor. Anna knew what was coming once she called him. She knew what it would mean to her mother – if she ever found out. But, Anna liked him, he was cute, a gentleman and he had saved her life. If Robin would prove to be that prince, that knight in shining armor to save her from all the darkness that shadowed her life, she would forever be indebted to him and, possibly, her heart would be his. Anna stared at the call button on her cell phone for a moment, and opted not to press it.

"Who was that?" Bruce asked, catching her off guard.

"Oh," She thought, "Just my dad, checking up on me." For once in her life, and for a reason she couldn't explain, she didn't want to tell Bruce who it was.

Bruce grunted out a sound, something seemed off with Anna. A month went by after she'd been kidnapped for a day, ever since the attacks with the Joker, she had been more silent than ever. Not to say she wouldn't talk about anything, she just wouldn't talk about him, or Batman for that matter. There was also no sign of Anna's diary for the past month. Needless to say, this bothered Bruce, it bothered him a lot.

Since Joker terrorized the theater, Anna's shows had been mostly canceled and moved up to an unannounced date and time. From time to time, Anna would be called in to rehearse and almost immediately following the ballet would be canceled. Something had happened that night the Joker went after her. He said he wanted everything from her, what could that mean? Certainly that monster couldn't feel anything. She knew this was far from over. The Joker was still running around Gotham, and had been for the entire month, doing who knows what with whoever he wanted to do it with. Most likely, he was plotting to recapture, or worse, kill her for what she'd done. And yet, the simplest of questions plagued Anna's mind, just why was her body wet when she woke up in that abandoned house?

Anna quickly reconsidered Robin's offer via voice mail, and turned back to Bruce, "Bruce, I want to date Officer Blake."

Bruce blinked a few times, "Why are you telling me about it?"

"I know you don't particularly want it to happen, but I do." She said, determined.

He closed his eyes and took a breath in, "Anna, your mother told me specifically to keep you away from young men who would prowl after you..." She looked at the ground, feeling scolded, Bruce continued, "Which is why I want you to do it." Anna looked back up at him and smiled in disbelief.

Bruce gave her a hug, knowing he had made this young woman very, very happy.

"And the voice mail...?" Bruce inquired.

"It was him." She smiled and looked back to her phone.

"I figured as much." He replied.

Anna took the opportunity to call Robin back.

"Hello?" He answered. She had never called a man other than her father before.

"Um, hi, Robin?" She asked, to confirm.

"Yeah, it's me, this Anna?" He asked back.

"Yeah." She laughed partially.

"Good to hear from y-" They both said at the same time, laughing when they realized what they did.

A large silence followed the awkward, yet adorable, conversation.

"You go ahead." She instructed.

"Okay." He smiled to himself, "I'm so glad you called back... Anna, would you like to go out with me?"

"I'd love to." She replied.

"Okay, awesome..." He was unsure of what the next steps were, "So, I guess we can go out for dinner or... something?"

"Dinner will be great, what time?" She asked further.

"How about tonight? Tonight at seven?" He asked.

"It sounds wonderful, dinner at seven." She repeated.

"Okay," His grin could be felt over the phone, "I'll be there to pick you up around six-thirty. Dress fancy."

"Okay, bye." She said, ending the conversation quickly.

"Bye, Anna." Robin and Anna hung up their phones.

"How'd it go?" Bruce asked.

"Dinner, tonight at seven." She explained, "He's picking me up at six-thirty. I'm going into town to pick up something new to wear. Can I take the Jaguar?"

"Great, glad for you, yes you can take the Jaguar." He handed her some keys.

"Thanks." She smiled, kissed Bruce on the cheek and headed out the door.

After Anna left, Bruce answered his phone, "Hi."

"Hey, was that okay?" It was Robin.

"It was perfect." Bruce replied.

"Thanks for giving me the heads up on when to call." Robin said.

"Sure." Bruce replied, "Asking someone out in a hospital or during recovery is certainly not romantic for either of you."

"Wow, so you're a romantic too, huh?" Robin asked jokingly.

"Funny." He replied with sarcasm, "Just be sure to show her a great time."

"Planning on it. Anyways, thanks again." Robin concluded.

"Of course."

"Bye."

* * *

"Later."

* * *

Anna returned home with a new dress, it being pink and cream in color with an a-line shape. The evening came all too soon. Robin arrived, after knocking on the door, he rubbed his hands together from nervousness.

"Evening, Officer." Alfred answered the door.

"Hey." He said.

"Anna will be with us shortly, please step in for a moment." Alfred instructed.

Robin stepped inside, anxiously awaiting Anna. Within moments, she walked down the stairs, looking stunning. He couldn't manage to take his eyes off of her.

"Shall we?" Robin offered his arm, Anna grasped it, "We shall." She said. The two of them drove off to dinner together.

Upon arriving, the two of them made their way into the high-class restaurant.

"Name please?" The hostess said.

"Blake." He answered.

"Blake, party of two." She found his name in the book and motioned for a nearby waiter to seat them.

Anna looked around at the place, knowing it was one of those expensive types that had to be called before coming, "Maybe that's why he waited to call me for so long." She thought.

They were then seated in more of a private area next to a large window. She stared outside for a few moments.

"So," Robin said, "It was rude of me to not ask before, but, are you already seeing someone?"

"No." She answered, "Are you?"

"No." He said back.

"Sorry if I'm being too forward." She said immediately, "But I've never been with anyone before. I've never officially been on dates, or been a girlfriend. Every time I'd try to make a relationship work out, my mother made sure it didn't. And now I'm here and she isn't. So I really don't know how to act."

"I guess that's just it," Robin smiled, "You don't act."

Anna smiled, she had never thought of it that way before.

"I guess so." She added, "So after the first date... are we together? Like, am I your girlfriend?"

"If you want to be." He said, still smiling. Then, turning serious, he continued, "I am a cop, so it won't be easy at times considering the crime that goes on here."

Like clockwork, the electricity went out and a mob full of men in clown's masks showed up at the restaurant. Screams were heard throughout and smoke bombs were set off. Robin gripped Anna's hand.

"Follow me!" He told her.

Anna watched as a dark figure made it's way through the crowd, she was certain it was Batman. Her certainty was confirmed as she heard the mob thugs say, "It's the Bat!"

Robin finally found his way to an exit door, Anna still in hand. The two of them ran down the sidewalk to the parking garage. Finally, they found his car. Robin hopped in the driver's seat and Anna in the passenger seat. He looked for his cell phone so he could alert the police, which he seemed to have lost. Suddenly, he felt a cold, metallic object on his left temple.

"Evening, officer..." A familiar voice said, turning his attention to Anna, he added, "Hi." The Joker smiled, his teeth a disgusting shade of orange. Anna lunged at the gun, pulling it away from Robin and pointing it at the Joker's face.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on a second," He began with his strange behavior. Anna knew whenever he spoke like this, something bad was always to follow, "Look, you shoot me, this place blows up. You kick me out of the car, I'll still blow it up."

"What's your point?!" Robin demanded an answer.

"Get out." He told Robin, "Get out and..." He yanked his hand with the gun out of Anna's hands, "Gimme my gun and you, get out."

"And if I do you'll just kidnap her again." Robin said, "So why don't you just blow us all up and end it here?"

"Figured you'd say that." Joker said, as a huge henchmen ripped the door open, dragging Robin out of the car into the group of thugs. Anna was about to attack the Joker again, when he warned, "You touch me, he dies. Brutus over there has no problem snapping an 'Officer's' neck, am I clear?"

Anna had to compromise herself. There was truly not a thing she could do.

"Oh, and uh... here's your phone back." The Joker tossed Robin's phone out the window.

The Joker jumped in front, peeled the car out and sped off with Anna in tow. She watched in the rear view mirror as the thugs began to beat on Robin. She crippled over, folding into her legs with her hands covering her face. Anna felt completely defenseless. She hadn't ever imagined that she'd feel this vulnerable and open to allow such a thing to happen. Being on that date with Robin, feeling like a girl all giddy and mixed up about him, she wasn't sure if it had been such a good thing after all. Had she not cared about him, then perhaps this would have never happened.

Moments after they left the parking garage, Batman came to save Robin from his death. He took down all the thugs with ease and asked, "Where'd he take the girl?"

"I don't know, he stole my car and her." He explained, pocketing his cell phone, "He also has a bomb set in this garage. I'm sure he'll set it off."

Just as he said it, the garage began to rumble. Batman grabbed Robin and flew them to a rooftop as the garage crumbled. Cop cars were beginning to surround the disaster scene. Batman flew him down to the streets.

"Think you can get home from here?" Batman asked.

* * *

"Yeah," Robin turned and gestured, "But I'd much rather -" He turned back to see that Batman had already left, "help." He finished his sentence.

The Joker and Anna arrived at one of his many random locations. A rather condemned looking building is what he forced her into this time. He kicked some of the wood nailed over one of the entrances with caution tape wrapped around it. He grabbed Anna's arm with great force and shoved her through the cobwebs and over the creaky floors.

"Wakey wakey boys..." He said, waking up some more of Gotham's finest.

"We've got a special visitor." He tossed Anna, who stumbled right into what looked like a large bird cage. She looked around amongst the dim and flickering lights, all the thugs stared at her.

"Well, c'mon, don't just stand there!" He yelled at them, "We've got a Batman to throw off... Hahahahaaa!" He smacked one of them in the head.

After they all exited the room, Anna frantically looked for a way to pick the lock on the cage.

"Ohh, I forgot to mention..." The Joker explained, "If you so much as _attempt_ to weasel your way out of that cage, Anna Banana, your little boyfriend may wind up... in several places." He cackled and followed after his thugs.

Anna had to depend on Batman, or Officer Blake, or both of them to find her. Anna sat on the dingy carpet and waited to be saved.

**END CHAPTER FIVE**


	6. A La Seconde'

**Hello everyone! Sorry it's taken me so much time to update. I start getting creative and I get sidetracked with other projects. And today... I'm giving SHOUT OUTS! :D :D :D**

**Shout out to DeeDee896, because Dexter's Lab was an awesome cartoon.**

**Shout out to EatingStarsAnDancingWithSire ns because that sounds like a scary good time. :O**

**Shout out to FoxGoddess2416... there is a good fiction somewhere in that name... ;)**

**Shout out to Lornaa, cuz this person is awesome.**

**Shout out to Ninja Kitty 101, I love this screen name. 3**

**Shout out to P-trova... because without the P, there would be no trova. XD A huge thanks for your review too (+100 treats to P-trova)**

**Anyways, thanks to all of you for following. I never thought it would make my day, but it does. :)**

**Enjoy the new installment of chapter six...**

* * *

**Chapter Six: A La Seconde'**

It had been hours, or was it days? Anna felt tired, hungry and restless. There was no sign of Batman or her beloved Officer Blake. She was sure she would not be found for awhile. The Joker had become aware of her pattern of fearlessness and since her most recent development of feelings for Robin, the Joker took advantage of this most rare opportunity. Suddenly, a door whipped open. Hysterical laughter echoed throughout the old house, the Joker and co. was back. Some of the thugs returned with him, some did not. Anna guessed they were either killed or severely injured while painting the town red with the lead clown.

"Anna! Banana!" He called over to her, the thugs went off to do their thing, "You really should have been there..." He walked towards her. She, for once, felt safe within the bars of the birdcage, "Come closer, Anna Banana." There was no way she'd come close to that heathen. He rolled his eyes at her resistance and sighed, "Look, you see this little remote?" He pulled a remote out of his jacket, "If I so much as press this little button, your boyfriend's cell phone is toast..." He chuckled a bit, "And anything close to it probably won't make it out alive..." Anna's eyes widened at the thought of anything bad happening to Robin. "See..." The Joker pointed sloppily at her, "Not so brave now, are you?" Grabbing the bars to the cage, he threatened, "You're in _my_ world now, Anna. And if you don't do what I tell you to, I can destroy _your_ world. So come here, my little nightingale." He stuck one of his arms through the cage.

Anna didn't want to, she had no choice. It was her personal space, or Robin's life – as well as whoever else was considered a part of her world. As soon as she came close enough to be within his reach, he grabbed the back of her hair, pressing her face against the bars, forcing her to look at him. She looked and felt a great amount of fear. Although, she hid it well beneath her blank stare and fearless face.

"Do I scare you, Anna?" He asked, wanting a reaction, "Does any of _this_ make you uncomfortable?" He put the scars on his mouth very close to her eyesight, "You wanna know how I got these, hm?" Anna wanted to hurt him, but she knew the consequences if she did not comply with his rules.

He continued with his story that he seemed so eager to tell, "I had this little wife, see. She wanted to buy..." He thought for a moment, Anna couldn't tell if he was trying to remember or if he was just searching for something new to say, he went on, "...a black bird. So we bought it. We took it home..." His voice became crazier the more he explained, "And it just went mad! It pecks her eyes out." Anna tried to steady her breathing, she knew he had to be telling her lies, right? "I kill it, but my wife is so depressed. I just want to see her smile again. So I -" Just before he could finish his story, someone interrupts.

"Uh, boss?" One of the bigger thugs said, the Joker turned to face him.

"We, uh, need some more ammo, the boys wasted all the shots on -" The Joker barked at the thug like a dog.

"Whoa, boss, whoa, I didn't know it was like that!" He backed away and went to be with the rest of the thugs. The Joker seemed a little more calm and turned his attention back to Anna.

"See Anna," He said, "Bark like a _freak_ and everyone leaves you alone."

"Boss! Come quick!" Another thug shouted. The Joker rolled his eyes at the incompetence of his followers, "Excuse me for a second..." He released her head and hair.

"What?!" He yelled at them, walking into the other room, "What is it that you_idiots_ can't handle now?!" She listened as he beat up one of his thugs. Anna recalled her own scars, feeling the marks from the bars on her face and touching the now healed bullet wound on her leg.

"H-he just wanted to tell you that he thinks the Bat is on his way, boss!" The other bargained to make him stop beating the thug up.

"Why didn't you say so?!" He yelled again, storming out of the room. He whipped open the door to the cage and after handcuffing her, he grabbed one of her arms, leading her out of the back of the house. He shoved her into another shady looking black van. She wondered how many of these vans were in his possession. This one was identical to the other, except this one had no seats, asides from the driver's seat. As he handed over Anna to another thug, he hesitated and thought for a moment.

"No, no no no..." He spoke to himself. Hitting Anna in the side of the head yet again, her vision went fuzzy and eventually black. The Joker knew he couldn't risk her pushing him out of the van again.

…**...**

"We've got an unidentifiable vehicle, no tags, no plate... they are going over 90!" The police transmission reported, "The Joker is **in** the van! I repeat! The Joker is **in** the van!"

Batman listened to the report and targeted where, exactly, the van was located. He flew towards it. Landing on top of the van, he heard laughter from inside. Gunshots fired through the roof of the van. Batman used his wings to pull back from the roof. As he gained distance, the Joker poked Anna out of the open door of the van. The Joker had his niece. Was it possible the Joker knew who he was?

"He has a hostage!" One of the police yelled through the transmission.

The Joker tossed Anna back, she fortunately landed on one of the thugs who laid her off to the side in a more gentle way. Tossing out a grenade, the Joker cackled and sang to himself, "Sing sweet nightingale, sing sweet nightingale..."

Finally, on his tumbler-cycle, Batman caught up with the van. He could see through the open door, Anna lying on her back passed out. He recalled Rachel, the way she'd been taken and murdered. He just couldn't let the same thing happen to Anna, he'd never forgive himself. Knowing he couldn't attack the van with her inside it, he instead attached a tracking device to it. He would figure out what to do once the Joker got to wherever he was going. After attaching the device, Batman pulled out of sight from the police and the Joker.

"BWAH HAHAHAHAHA!" The Joker laughed, "He gave up! HAHAH!"

The thug driving the van swerved because of the loud laughter and sped across Gotham to one of the Joker's bigger and more recent hideouts – The Monarch Theater.

…**...**

Anna felt as if she were drowning, she couldn't breathe and she didn't know why. What felt like waterfalls kept pouring out on her head. Shivering, Anna's eyes opened. She was handcuffed, once again, to a wall. The room was familiar, it was her dressing room. She watched as a thug with a bucket came over to her again, dumping a bucket of ice water on her. So that explained why she was wet.

"Oh how the prideful do fall..." The Joker laughed, "You know... Anna Banana... you really shouldn't keep such intimate things lying around..."

Still waking up, wondering if she was dreaming, she replied with a simple, barely audible, "What?"

He flashed a small book, resembling... or rather, was her diary.

"I've gotta tell ya, kid," He said, "This was a pretty darn good read." He waved it in the air.

"How did you find that?!" She yelled at him.

"Oh, I just happened to be at the airport the day a certain someone landed..." He explained vaguely revealing details, "And oh... what's-his-face... Zsasz? Yes, I think that's it... he so happened to have this neat little book with him. When I asked him if I could borrow it, he just ignored me and yapped on about some mark or something..." He paced in a disorderly fashion, "So, I borrowed it from him without permission. Besides, he had to go back to grandma's house, and she doesn't like books there."

Anna thought to herself about what all of it really meant. The Joker had apparently went to the airport the day she landed in Gotham, along with Zsasz. He probably made Zsasz steal her diary. She figured grandma's house was probably a term for the asylum. But, why her? She had nothing to do with politics, justice or any of those things. She was just a ballerina. Did he have some sort of vendetta against the Dawes family?

The Joker flipped open the book, reading one of it's passages, "...I really don't know how else to say it, but I can't stand my mother. I could just kill her. It's like we're from two different worlds." He looked up from the diary at Anna, "Indeed it is, Anna..." He flipped a few more pages over, "Ah! This was probably the best read out of them all, Anna Banana..."

Oh how she was growing tired of him calling her that.

"Would you look at that? This has only been two months ago!" He was thrilled, "Dear diary, my Aunt Rachel is dating Harvey Dent. Apparently he's really cleaned up the streets of Gotham. Blah.. blah blah blah..." He skipped over some of it, "I really couldn't care less about the crime. Personally, I think it gives the town a little character. If there wasn't any crime, there would be no Batman, which means there would be no great stories to tell future generations. So, thank you "Joker", whoever you are, for being around to spice up life a little bit."

"Why, you're welcome, Anna Banana." He said, grinning. He flipped through some other pages, finally reaching some of the more recent entries, he read aloud, "Aunt Rachel died... awww..." He commented, "But, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know how I should feel, but I just don't know if I do." He looked up at her with a knowing look, and back down at the diary again, "Politics drive me crazy. I hate them. I can understand why it drives some people mad and why so many fight against the system. Who knows if I'll keep doing ballet? Maybe I'll join them someday."

Why did she write that? Anna admitted the jealousy she was feeling at the time towards her Aunt Rachel taking all of the limelight. The way her father would always pressure Anna to be more like Rachel. Rachel, Rachel, Rachel was all she'd heard about. But her untimely death was so hurtful and unexpected. She hadn't really meant what she wrote, had she?

**END CHAPTER SIX**


	7. Chasse

**Hello again everybody! Sorry chapter seven has taken so long, but here it is. :) And the plot line moves right along...**

**SHOUT OUTS! To my newest followers :) :) :)**

**Smiele... because the name almost sounds like a smile :D and the Joker likes that XD**

**evermore276... because this person is the bees knees, face, feet, wings and sneeze (lol)**

**Enjoy! As chapter seven unfolds...**

**...**

**Chapter Seven: Chasse**

"Gotcha." Batman said, a beep going off in his ear. The van had stopped and he had the place pinned. He thought about it being at the Monarch Theater. Why there? It was completely obvious and out in the open. Then it hit him, something more was going on here. This was more than likely a trap set up by the prince of crime himself. But, there was no other way to find out what, exactly, was going on until he went to see for himself. Batman steeled himself with courage, weapons and strength as he began to head towards the theater.

"Hey," Someone interrupted, "There's no way I'm letting you go this one alone."

It was none other than Officer Blake, of course. Batman was unsure if the Officer knew what his true identity was or not. Regardless, he could see clearly in the young man's eyes that he was absolutely not going to just sit aside quietly and allow for Anna to remain in the Joker's palm. Batman gave him a simple nod and said, "They're at the Theater." John nodded back, "Let's go."

The two of them rode off on the Tumbler together, heading towards the theater. Crashing through the locked glass doors at the entrance, the two of them hid in the shadows. "Here," Batman said to John, tossing him a gun of some sort, "You'll need this." John looked it over, it seemed it was some sort of stun gun, "Thanks." After that, Batman was gone without another word, most likely scaling the room from the highest vantage point possible. John kept close to the wall and in the darkest areas.

Finally, Officer Blake found some thugs. One had a bright red mohawk and was tall, the other was built like a wrestler and had a shaved head hid beneath a gentleman's hat. Before acting on anger, he listened to him talk.

"Not sure what the boss wants with the girl." The one with the mohawk said, "She's so hot."

"She's definitely cute, but a little scrawny for me..." The other commented, then began to ask, "You think he's... _into_ her?"

"Nah." He immediately answered, then gave it some thought, "Well... even if he is, there's _always_ a method to the madness. Joker doesn't commit himself to anything, or anybody."

"Heh, true." The other agreed, "Hey... since she's somewhat available, maybe I can move in on that territory."

"Hey! That was my idea!"

"Whatever." He got frustrated, "I'm gonna go check up on the other hallway."

The tougher, wrestler-like man walked away from the scene, leaving the taller, brighter haired man by himself. This was Robin's moment.

"Hm?" The man looked around, believing to have heard footsteps near him. Before he had the chance to scream, Robin jammed the stun gun into his back, rendering him unconscious. Robin receded back into the shadows.

"Hey man... I thought I heard some-" The other man had come back, he began to panic, "Where are you Bat?!" He yelled, trying to fake confidence, "Show yourself...!"

Officer Blake came out of the shadows but a second too late. The large thug turned and knocked the stun gun from his hands and sent his body flying to the floor.

"Think you could sneak up on me, eh?" He began to walk over to where John was laying, "You sure don't look like a bat to me! Ha HAH!" He smirked at John, who was scrambling for anything that would help him. Suddenly, John saw it, a long metal object. He picked the lightweight object up, it seemed to be some sort of broken pipe. The thug picked him up by the collar, slamming him into the wall.

"You're in for a _world_ of pain, punk!" He yelled in his face, John grimaced. Was it at his rancid breath? Or was it the body oder? He couldn't decide. Without another word, Officer Blake slammed the metal pipe against the man's head, causing him to instantly drop John, clutching his temple. John took this opportunity to pick up his stun gun once again. Quickly, he flicked it on and jammed it into the thug's side. The thug collapsed on top of the other thug. Officer Blake continued down the hallway.

"You, Anna Banana..." The Joker chuckled in between thoughts, "You don't like who you've become. You don't like where your life has led you. You're so fed up with the system, the people, the... the rich, money laden slime that oozes from the streets of Gotham. These pretentious, ungrateful people who as a society expect a man in a bat suit to keep their streets supposedly 'clean' when in reality it'll never be clean... it's filthy." His voice became dark and almost sinister, "It's driving you... _insane_. You've gone down the path of no return in your mind... do you deny it?"

Anna thought about her reply carefully, "..." She somehow knew this day would come, that someone, somewhere would read that diary of hers and see her thoughts. Never in a million years had she calculated that the Joker, of all people, would be the one reading her innermost feelings.

"...No." And never had she dreamed he'd be right about them. She stared at him, cold, wet and chained to a wall, she stared at him as only Batman dared to stare at him upon interrogations, "I don't deny it." She added.

He laughed loudly and became suddenly serious on the brink of hysterical, "I won't keep you in a cage, Anna. Unlike your foolish mother, your... your absent father! Even good ol' Uncle Brucey and the love lorned Officer Blake..." He kneeled down inches from her face, "No, Anna, I won't keep you in a cage, I'll teach you to fly." He laughed hysterically and looked around, "Well Anna Banana..." He looked around, "Looks like we've got a visitor..."

"Having a fun chat, are we?" Batman stepped out of the shadows. Anna remained stone cold in her expression, although she was panicking inside. How long had he been standing there? Had he heard everything they'd been talking about? Would he kill her for how she felt? It wasn't like she'd been some sort of criminal. She just felt the way she did for a variety of reasons. Regardless, she still liked Officer Blake, he was what little hope this city had left. Speaking of Officer Blake, why was he suddenly in the doorway?

"Awww..." The Joker said backing up close to Anna, "What a nice little reunion!" He grabbed Anna, unlocking her chains once more and held her close to him, a knife ever present, pressing into her cheek. It wasn't making any sense to her, why wasn't she fighting back? She could easily take him down. But, no, something was different this time, something was changing.

"Anna!" Robin called to her. She glanced over at him, unsure of what to think of herself or the situation she was currently in. No, she couldn't allow things to end like this. She certainly felt the way she'd written inside her diary, but she wasn't going to throw caution to the wind and a wedge between her and Robin. The tension in the room rose.

"Let her go, Joker." Batman growled, "She doesn't have anything to do with this."

"What ever gave you _that_ idea?!" He cackled, pressing the knife into her all the more.

"Let her go..." Batman neared where they stood, "Or **else**."

"Or else what, Bats?" Joker taunted, "I'm the one with the hostage here." He gestured with his knife, "And we wouldn't want anything to happen to little 'ol Anna Banana..." He stroked her head, "Would we?"

Batman took another step closer, causing the Joker to tighten his grip.

"Batman NO!" Robin yelled at him, "He's going to kill her!"

At that moment, the scuffle began. Anna unexpectedly stomped on the Joker's foot. He flinched back in pain. As he flinched, Anna managed to wiggle free from the Joker's grasp, she then turned towards him, jumping into the air bringing her arms underneath her feet and up over her head. Simultaneously, she kicked the Joker in the chest and fell into a back hand-spring. Once she landed on her feet, she felt her bullet wound from not so long ago as she stumbled back into Officer Blake's arms.

Everyone stood in stunned silence for a split second, looking between each other. All except the Joker, who was laughing and hopping on one foot. Robin held Anna in complete disbelief of what he'd just seen her do.

"A-are you okay?" He asked, unsure of what to think.

Before she had the chance to reply, Batman rushed towards the Joker, "Get her out of here!" He yelled over at Robin.

"Oh! Right!" He said, ushering her out of the room quickly. He turned to the right going out of the room.

"No!" Anna instructed, "The other way!"

He nodded and the two of them went, as fast as they could, to the entrance.

* * *

In the meantime, the Joker seemed to successfully dodge Batman's rush. As Batman's fist collided with one of the mirrors in the dressing room, busting it to pieces, the Joker held what looked like a bomb up and backed towards the door. All too clearly, he wanted to be done with this fight and recapture Anna.

"_You_..." the Joker continued to taunt, "Just don't know when to quit... do you?"

"Leave the girl be, Joker." Batman demanded.

"The Bat's out of his cage..." The Joker replied, "Why don't you let the bird out of hers?"

"What do you want with her?" He pushed to know.

"What do___**I**_ want with her?" the Joker seemed offended, "Nothing she didn't already ask for."

"What do you mean?" Batman inquired further.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" The Joker squinted.

Without another word, the Joker tossed the bomb-like object at him, he laughed and made a quick exit out of the room.

"Tear gas!" Batman yelled out, pulling his cape over his face and recessing back into the darkness.

* * *

Robin kept his arm around Anna, the two of them rushed towards the glass doors at the entrance. Quick footsteps could be heard following behind them. They were certain it was the Joker. And that it was, the Joker was coming up fast behind them. Just as he was about to grab Anna, another figure – Batman - flung at the Joker. The two of them rolled in a ball, crashing into Robin and Anna. The impact caused the both of them to crash through another one of the glass entrance doors. Anna put her arms in front of her face, her forearms scraped against the concrete sidewalk, glass embedded and cut their way into her skin.

Batman punched the Joker's face a couple of times. Oddly enough, the Joker wasn't laughing.

"Do you see what you've done?" He seemed outraged.

"You did this!" Batman yelled at him, "You caused ALL of this!"

Just as the Joker began to find humor in Batman's anger, multiple cop cars pulled up to the theater.

* * *

"You're going back to where you belong!" Batman yelled at him, taking him over to the police. Part of him felt empty saying those words. The first time the Joker had ever been committed to prison, he broke out and blew up the police station. Would he do the same again? Batman couldn't say, all he knew was, Anna needed protection and although any jail or prison would more than likely not keep him for very long, it would, at the very least, allow Bruce some much needed time with Anna. Something different had to happen here. These were loose ends he could not leave untied.

"Hey there, Anna." Bruce greeted his niece, flowers in hand.

"Hey." She said back, "You know I won't be staying here, right?"

"I know, I know." He smiled, "I just thought my niece might like a little gift..." He took notice of the roses that were already sitting next to her, "I see someone beat me to it."

She smiled, "Robin. Before he went back on his shift. He was here when they put these on." She showed the bandages around her forearms.

Bruce smirked, "Of course." He sat next to her, "So, what did the doc have to say?"

"They had to hand pick all of the glass pieces out of my arms and I have to keep these on for one night." She looked her arms over and back up at Bruce, "The nurse also said that they won't heal completely, there will be scarring."

"I see." Bruce sat in the chair next to her, "Listen, Anna -"

"Anna?" The nurse came in, "Oh, hello Mr. Wayne."

"Hi." He smiled.

She turned her attention back to Anna, "Okay, so you're good to go! Bandages on overnight tonight, you can take them off in the morning. You already know about the minor scarring and I think that's it."

"Okay," Anna was relieved, "Thanks so much." She and Bruce picked up the flower

"Thanks." Bruce added, the two of them walked out of the hospital.

"Anna, there are some things we need to talk about once we get back." He prepared her.

"Okay." She replied. She was nervous, though it would never show through. She knew what it was that Bruce wanted to talk about. He was like an Uncle to her, more than that, he was almost like a father, but the thought of telling him about her abductions made her stomach turn.

The two of them got inside Bruce's car and drove off to the mansion. Anna's mind racing with thoughts of just what it was he was going to say.

**END CHAPTER SEVEN **


	8. Grand Jete and Coda

****Whew** long chapter, but definitely meaty. Hope everyone likes it and has as much fun reading it as I did writing it. :) :) :)**

**SHOUT OUTS to my new followers! WOOP!**

**animedancin13, I'd love to dance with anime too! :3**

**illusionsanddreams, ooooh, sounds so... so mystical... **

**shadowboxing, sounds like party of a time and also like something you do in Kingdom Hearts (love that game!)**

**Enjoy the meatiness of chapter eight...**

**Chapter Eight: Grand Jete and Coda**

Anna felt Bruce's eyes watching her as they'd never watched her before. She felt so... examined.

"Anna?" He began.

Tears poured from her eyes, "I'm so sorry! I-I...I should have told you...!" She shook as Bruce held her in his arms.

"Anna," Bruce gently placed her in front of him, so he could look into her eyes, "Anna, it's alright."

She calmed down a bit, "But there are so many things I should have told you... about me, a-about the Joker..."

To her surprise, he didn't seem phased at all, "Come with me." He instructed. He took her to a wall, pressed in a code and the wall cracked open as if it were a door. It led them down a hallway and eventually to a room. Anna was astounded as she looked around, how long had Bruce kept this a secret? Why would he keep it a secret? Her mind raced with questions. All of them answered as soon as she laid her eyes on a black, leathery looking suit that stood within a case.

"You're..." Her eyes widened, looking between both the suit and Bruce. Was it really true?

He simply nodded. Her shock ended all too soon, as she remembered all the moments he'd saved her. She combined her interactions with both Batman and Bruce, they were one and the same. Suddenly, it hit her, he'd heard what she said to the Joker the last time he'd saved her. Not Batman, but Bruce, had heard what she said.

"You heard..." She began.

"I did." He confirmed, "The Joker plays sick games. Especially if he believes he's found a crack inside the walls of a sane person. Which is why I brought you here to show you all of this."

"I see." She replied, "So you believe I don't really think all of those things?"

"I believe you had a moment - several, even." He explained, "I watched you yesterday, Anna. I want to train you to protect yourself."

"I've had training." She hesitated, "Maybe not the best... but-"

"We're going to train, Anna, no question." Bruce was determined, "You know who I am, and I know who's after you. I'm going to train you so you are able to fight for yourself. I can guarantee there will be times when I won't be around to save you, Joker will make sure of that. He already has once."

Anna took everything in that Bruce said, she took a deep breath, "Okay. We'll train then."

"Good." Bruce walked towards the same hallway where they'd entered, "Meet me here every day at about three." He tossed a small device over to her, "Oh, and I want you to have this. One press of that button and I'll be wherever you are."

Anna nodded her head.

Days passed, soon it turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Ten months had gone by since the night Anna was abducted for the second time by the Joker. She'd trained for those ten months with Bruce and became stronger, faster and more agile than ever. It was her last night of training with Bruce.

"Anna," He said, still sweating from the training, "I have something for you."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Bring it in, Alfred." He motioned for Alfred to come out. In his hands, Alfred held a black, cloth-like material.

"Anything else, sir?"

Bruce shook his head, "No thank you, Alfred, this will do."

"Anything for you, Anna?" He asked.

"No thanks, Alfred, I'm fine." She smiled.

Bruce showed her the black object, it was a complete body suit, long gloves and all.

"This is for you." He handed it to her, "It's made out of fire, ice and plant resistant materials."

"Plant?" Anna asked curiously.

"Yes, plant." Bruce resisted explanation, he continued, "I want you to wear this under anything you wear in public. And if you are unable to wear it, keep it close by."

"I will." She replied, "Thank you, Uncle Bruce." He hadn't heard her call him that for a long time. He knew she was most sincere whenever she called him that.

"Oh, and I had these made for you." He handed her a pair of black boots, "They have metal plates in them, if by chance you step on anything sharp. Same rules for these too, okay?"

"Okay." She laughed.

"Your parents are stopping by today." Bruce reminded her, "I have work to do, so come get me if you need me, I'll be in here." He sat in his chair, beneath the various computer screens.

"Thanks again." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "For all that you've done."

Anna changed in her room. After setting her clothes on the bed, she looked her wounds over. The bullet wound on her leg no longer throbbed anymore. The scars from falling through the glass doors during her last abduction could still be seen in daylight, at times the scars resembled bird feathers to her. She slipped into the black suit. It was a tight fit, but yet comfortable at the same time. She felt very at home in it. Her thoughts drifted to Bruce, then to her boyfriend Robin. The two of them had been going steady for those ten months, she hadn't mentioned a word of her training to Robin. She was very muscular from her ballet dancing as it was, so Robin never questioned it. Anna had only been accepting weekend dates with Robin because every night during the week, she was to train with Bruce.

The boots Bruce had given her weren't clunky looking as she'd thought they'd be. They were sleek and just as flexible as the suit itself. She could even do her pointework while wearing them. He had mentioned that there were metal plates inside of them, but he hadn't mentioned their box shape. Bruce had truly put thought into how the shoes would be made for Anna. She slipped her shirt over her head and put her pants and jacket back on over the top of her suit. She already felt a little safer.

There were then three taps on the door. Anna opened her door.

"You have a visitor, Ms. Dawes." Alfred had an odd look on his face. She went to see who was there for her.

"Anna!" It was her mother, arms outstretched and a little too happy for comfort. Anna knew that whenever her mother was this perky, something strange was going on.

"Hi... mom..." She hesitantly replied, "Where's dad? Why didn't he come?"

"Ohh, you know..." She gestured her hands as if it made no difference or it wasn't that big of a deal, "He's feeling a little under the weather..."

"Oh..." Anna was disappointed, she hadn't seen her father for a year, but things were always this way. Her mother seemed to carry on the conversation without explanation of what, exactly, was wrong with Anna's father.

"That's so wonderful that the Monarch Theater is reopening tomorrow!" She was, indeed, too happy, "SO glad that you didn't come home." Of course she was, words began dumping out of her mouth, "What a pain that would have been to come home for a few months, then come back. I knew it'd reopen, it was just a matter of time. I told your father that it would, he wanted you to come back home, but I told him you needed to be out on your own. I told him that if you came back here, you'd never forgive him for it. I only came today to see if you're doing well, and apparently you are so I'll just make my way towards the door!" She flipped her hair and turned towards the door.

"Right." Anna replied, annoyance building up within her, "Tell dad... actually, I'll just call him. Thanks for letting me know how things are going."

"Of course, dear!" She said, gingerly opening the door, "Toodles!"

"Bye." She said back, the door closing. Anna watched her mother get inside the car her father usually took and drive off.

"Everything alright, Ms. Dawes?" Alfred asked.

Anna's eyes glazed over with tears. No, everything wasn't alright. Her father was sick, no one had bothered to call her for the past year and her mother was clearly up to something. Everything was awful. Anna sighed.

"I'm going for a walk, Alfred." She said.

"But it's getting dark outside, Anna." Alfred pointed out.

"It'll only be a short walk and I'll be alright." She smiled, placing her hand on his arm.

As soon as Anna set foot outside, she stomped off, angrier than she'd ever felt in her life. Who did Nola think she was?! Sure, she was her mother, but it certainly never felt that way. Aren't mothers supposed to be attached to their children? At least a little bit? She'd certainly never seen this side of Nola before. Why, the day she'd moved in with Bruce, Nola was ramming it down her throat how she'd never be an independent woman and how she didn't need a man to take down her career. Speaking of which, she didn't even fish for information on Anna's love life. Something seemed so off, but it had always been that way with her mother. Not her, her almost Uncle, her boyfriend or even Batman himself could change those facts.

As Anna walked down the sidewalks and past the dark alleyways across town, she heard some shuffling and noises.

"Stop!" A muffled voice let out.

"Quiet lady!" A louder voice yelled back, "You're making this harder than it has to be!"

Anna walked closer to the alleyway it sounded like it was coming from. There it was, black and white in the alleyway, a man had a woman pinned to the brick wall.

"Take it off!" He yelled at her, "Take it off or I'm gonna take it off for ya!"

"NO!" The woman shrieked.

"Hey jerk!" Anna called over to him.

"Huh?" He looked over his shoulder at her, dropping the woman he was threatening. He and Anna walked closer to each other.

"Leave her alone." Anna's voice was strong and determined.

"So the little girl wants to play, huh?" He lifted his hands up to her face, before he could touch her, she grabbed his hands, using his own weight to flip him onto the ground. He grimaced in pain, but got back up, putting both of his fists up for the fight. He lunged at Anna, missing as she made her way behind him and spun as she kicked him repeatedly in the back. He slammed into the brick wall and turned to face her again, "That's IT little girl! You're goin' down!" He taunted.

Finishing him, she punched him in his solar plexus, leaving him unconscious.

"Ohh!" The woman who was threatened gasped, "Thank you so much!"

Anna smiled at her, "Don't thank me. Anyone who sees things like this shouldn't let it happen. I suggest you go tell the police..." They both looked down at the man, "He'll be laying there for awhile." Anna said.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" The woman called as she ran out of the alleyway and towards the police station.

Anna began walking back to Bruce's house. She stared at her hands, she'd never felt so alive and so amazing in all of her life. No wonder Bruce worked as a vigilante by night. Defeating crime felt just as good, no, better than when she would dance. She felt so free and so useful taking down a "bad guy." She just had to ask Bruce if she could help him, she had to. She'd settle for sidekick, anything to keep this feeling inside her.

Anna rushed in the house, "Bruce?!" She called wildly.

"What, what is it?" He said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I need to ask you something!" She began, sounding like a teenager about to confess their love.

"What?" He inquired further.

"I want to help you." She said, "I want to help you fight crime and -"

"Where did you get this idea?" Bruce asked.

"Tonight, just a few minutes ago, I-I helped a woman escape from a criminal!" She explained, "I've never felt so wonderful and so useful!"

"You did **what**?" Bruce asked, in disbelief, "I trained you to defend yourself, not to go off fighting crime!"

"But, _please, _I need to do this, I-"

"No." He shut his eyes briefly and opened them again, "I can't let you do that. I can't let you wind up like-"

"Like Rachel? But, Bruce! I want to! _She_ would want me to!" She begged, "I need to do this, Bruce, for me! I need to-"

"I said no!" He yelled at her, the tension rising in the room, "I should have never trained you." Bruce cut the tension short and stormed out of the room. Anna's arms and shoulders dropped, she was defeated.

"Ms. Dawes... Anna..." Alfred tried to console her, "Are you-"

"I'm fine." She stared blankly at the wall, then at Alfred, "I'm going to go to my room now. I may have to cancel the ballet tomorrow."

"I'll be sure and tell them, Ms. Dawes." Alfred replied respectfully, before walking away, he reminded her, "Am I to cancel your outing with Mr. Blake this evening as well?"

"Oh, I guess not. I'll go get changed." Her voice was completely empty. She walked back to her bedroom. Anna slipped into a long, silky white/silver dress she'd had picked out for their date that night. The two of them had planned on going to the annual midnight ball of Gotham.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated on her nightstand, she picked it up.

"Hey Lisey, I'm so, so sorry. I've been called in to work tonight, last minute. Something about some crazy woman beating up some criminal in an alleyway. Lots and lots of love ~Your Robin"

She felt horrible, her life could not get any worse at this point. Anna walked over to the edge of her bed and noticed a white envelope on the edge of it. Slowly, she opened it and pulled out what was inside.

"I'll take you to the real ball. Tonight at 10:32, sharp." Was scribbled in red ink on a joker card.

**END CHAPTER EIGHT**


	9. Odile

**If the last chapter was the meat... this chapter is the juice from the meat. XD**

**SHOUT OUTS! ^0^**

**ChidorixCixBritannia...because this person made my day :D**

**Alucardist...because their name is... cardy sounding.**

**boca3...boca burgers anyone? :O**

** .3...because this reminds me of Sailor Moon... XD**

**and of course...**

**melala103...100+ snickers !**

**Enjoy as Chapter Nine unfolds...**

**...**

**Chapter Nine: Odile**

Anna looked up from the card at the digital clock, which flicked from 10:31 to 10:32.

"Annaaa... Bananaaaa..." The Joker stepped out from the shadows, "Looking awfully dressed up this evening, aren't we?"

She watched him stalk towards her, smiling and slicking his hair back. Strange enough, he had no knife in his hand.

"So, what do ya say?" He asked, licking his lips, his half-lidded, murderous gaze looking down at her. Anna looked towards the door, wondering what she should do. The Joker placed his hand firmly on her cheek, trying to turn her towards him. Of her own accord, she looked back at him, his hand still ever present on her cheek. So many things were at risk. Yet none of them mattered enough. Anna grinned and began to laugh, much to the Joker's pleasure.

Anna's final thoughts were of Bruce, the way he'd rejected her. Everything had pushed Anna to the limit that day. From her mother to her Uncle to her boyfriend. The only person there for her seemed to be the Joker. He was nothing but a pack of lies, though. But, really, had everyone else been telling the truth? Bruce had lied to her in that he was Batman. Strike one. He had also lied to her about training her for her own use. Strike two. And she'd never get over the way Robin blew her off that night. It was their special night, their date night. He promised he'd never let work or anything or anyone get in the way of them. Strike three.

Anna began to recall those ten months ago what the Joker had said to her. The way he knew exactly how she felt, exactly who she was. Bruce had tried to hide that beneath this false sense of justice. He never actually addressed anything she'd said, he just trained her and was critical when she wanted to help. The Joker, although considered by the mass public to be a criminal, had taken his time with her. He saw what Anna was really about. Perhaps she'd been seeing things from the wrong perspective.

She took a deep breath in, raising an eyebrow and said in a deep, sultry voice, "Show me whatcha got."

With that, the Joker laughed and jumped out of the window. Anna followed closely behind.

…...

Distraught and feeling guilty, Bruce tapped on Anna's door three times.

"Anna?" He paused, waiting for her response, "I'm sorry." He continued, "I'm really, truly sorry." He paused again, then continued, "I need to talk to you. I didn't have any right to say those things I said to you..." He confessed, "I would love your help, Anna. I just..." He sighed heavily, "I don't want to see someone close to me die because of something I do."

Just then, Alfred walked by, "She should be on her date with Master Blake, sir. I'm unsure if she decided to cancel or not."

"Oh." Bruce felt like a fool. He tapped on her door again, "I'm coming in." He said, slowly turning the knob, opening the door.

The night's breeze blew through the curtains and something fell briskly to the floor. Bruce scanned the room left to right, there was absolutely no sign of her anywhere. He walked over to the piece of paper and picked it up. He read the Joker's invitation.

"No." He said under his breath. He noticed her purse and phone sitting on the floor by the bed. He picked up her phone and read the messages on it, "No." He repeated, "Alfred, she's been taken. I need to find out where. We know at 10:32 sharp she was carried out of this room, most likely unconscious. The Joker knew she'd fight back. The real question is, what does he want with her?"

"Sometimes things are not all that they seem to be." Alfred suggested, noting the lack of evidence of a struggle. Giving it little thought, Bruce left quickly to suit up.

…...

Anna stepped into what was more than likely a stolen limo. She glanced around. A bunch of thugs sat in the rest of the seats. One of them had stolen the original driver's outfit, another was sniffing a big, white flower, two others wearing masks were pretending to kiss each other and the rest sat with scowls on their faces. Her heart was pounding, she was unsure of what she'd gotten herself into. The Joker plopped himself next to her as she took note of his purple bow tie. Although he grinned at her, his eyes showed he was thinking of something else entirely. Hatefully, he snatched the white flower out of the thug's hands and placed it on his suit jacket. The thug looked depressed, so the Joker handed him a small, strange looking, round object. It went off and electrocuted him.

"OUCH! OW!" The thug dropped it and fanned off his hands. The Joker laughed hysterically. Finally, they pulled up to a large warehouse. It had a bunch of tacky looking lights decorating the outside. What could he possibly be planning? Grabbing Anna by the arm, he forcibly took her to the front door. She looked back at the limo full of thugs, which drove off to go to who knows where.

"Watch your step." He warned, dragging her along faster so she tripped on her feet.

The two of them entered into a house of madness. It was a warehouse, shoddily disguised as a ballroom. A paper chandelier hung down, partly on fire. More tacky looking lights of multiple colors surrounded the room. Henchmen danced together, their hands duct taped to each other. What sounded like backwards disco music played in the background. And there stood the clown prince of crime himself, with his hand outstretched to her, offering the lady a dance – a slow dance. Anna smirked and accepted his offer. The two of them began to dance together. He was much, much closer to her than she would have preferred but, for what it was worth, the evening was actually somewhat pleasant to her.

"How are we, this evening, Anna?" He actually called her by her name.

"Well." She answered back briefly, then asked, "Why the show?"

He chuckled, "You don't mince a **word**, do you?" But he was willing to explain, "I need a legacy... and **you're** going to give me that."

"I'm not having your children." She leveled her eyes at him.

He laughed, he almost seemed in disbelief of the suggestion, "Who said anything about children?"

He gripped a lock of her hair and stroked it, nearly pulling on it, "I need you, Anna. I need you to... cause some chaos..."

What was she doing here? She had no business in dealing with the Joker. He had murdered her Aunt. Bruce would be so ashamed if he could see what she were doing. How she'd willingly come with the Joker to this place. What a sight. She knew she had to leave. And so leave she would. What would her beloved Officer Blake think of her? The way she'd become drawn to a madman and a killer. He would never forgive her if he knew. Unless she were to exit the premises and act as if she were undercover, yes, undercover for the police force. Perhaps she had found the Joker's hideout.

Anna let go of the Joker, "I have to go." She began to make her way for the door. Surprisingly the Joker didn't stop her. He didn't charge after her, he didn't grab her or threaten her. All he did was laugh.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" He called after her.

_Don't answer back. Don't answer back._ She thought and kept walking, faster and faster. Anna opened the door and stood in shock over what she saw. There was Nola, her mother, before her very eyes. Duct tape was over her mouth, two large henchmen held her arms and she looked to be in a complete panic.

"Mom...?!" Anna looked between her mother and the Joker. She knew she'd made a mistake in going there that night.

"Ohh, mommy!" The Joker laughed, "Bring her in. There's only so much time." He pointed to the ground and the thugs slung her to the floor, she sat with tears in her eyes. The Joker then pulled out a tape recorder and looked at Nola, "Dare I play it?" He taunted. Nola looked confused. He grinned at Anna, "So about that deal, Anna Banana... I want you to join me, loosen up and cause some chaos."

A nearby thug handed her a knife.

"You're a sick man!" Anna shouted at him. What was keeping her from just killing him? She wanted to so badly, but something seemed to hold her back. She wanted to know what was on that tape and why her mother was there.

"I don't think you want to say who's sick just yet, dove tail." He clicked the play button on the recorder.

"Hey babe." A male voice said.

"Oh hey, Charlie." It was Nola answering back. The man was Charles Crock, the man her mother had been sleeping around with for years.

"Everything going according to plan?" He asked.

"You know it is!" She sounded overjoyed, "I've been able to give him at least two doses of the stuff every day since you gave it to me!"

"Great. How long until he's dead?" Charlie asked.

"Ohh... not much longer. Kevin thinks he's coming down with something." She laughed.

"Ha, yeah, and he won't be coming back up either. They won't be able to identify the stuff if they autopsy'em." The both of them laughed.

"Ohhh, we're going to be so RICH!" Her excitement was disgusting.

"Oh hey... what about the girl?"

"No worries, Anna Banana will just have to have had a little "accident.""

"Ohhh, NOLA! You little linx you!" You could hear the kissing over the recorder.

"I sent a guy out to get the bait today." She explained.

"Bait?"

"Some guy named Victor said he'd be more than happy to retrieve the diary for me. I paid him off with a wad of cash and he said he'd take care of it."

The two of them laughed and the recorded segment ended.

Nola's face had gone from panic to complete, total frantic panic. Anna could hardly manage to stand, "Mom... w-why?"

The Joker ripped the tape off of her mouth and Anna was handed some papers by yet another thug. Anna's mouth hung open, she glazed her eyes over it. She whispered the words she read.

"Anna! Don't! Please..." Nola begged.

"Annalise Blaire Dawes. Born December first..." Her eyes followed the sentences down, "Father, Kevin Theodore Dawes. M-" her voice began to fade to tears, "Mother... I-I can't... can't read..." Tears poured down her cheeks, yet she continued, "P... Penelope Blaire Leighton-Dawes." Anna dropped the knife and looked at the piece of paper that lay beneath her birth record, "Cause of death..." Her voice quivered along with her lips, "...poison?!" Her eyebrows were pressed together so much, her head was beginning to hurt, "Her secretary Nola Amberly went under questioning." It was too much to bear, Anna dropped the papers to the floor, drawing her hands to her mouth. She fell onto her knees, staring at Nola – the woman who had murdered her mother.

"I-I didn't mean to, Anna, please... understand... I..."

"Let's not forget today's paper..." The Joker cut in, as if he were reminding them, he held up the paper and read, "Billionaire Kevin Dawes, found dead at midnight last night..." He tossed the paper in front of Anna. It was true, her father was dead because Nola poisoned him.

That. Was. It.

Anna didn't want to hear anymore. She didn't want to think anymore. So, she didn't. Anna became enraged, furious, burning with hatred. She gripped the knife on the floor and stared Nola down.

"Anna, NO!" Nola said in her motherly tone.

Everything happened so fast. Anna pushed Nola to the ground. She stood over top of her and listened as she grimaced in pain. All she could hear was laughter, all she saw was the color red. Anna got up from the ground, what seemed to be days later, but it had only been moments. Anna looked herself over, down her arms to her blood stained hands and then at her dress, her silky white dress was drenched in blood. The tips of her pale, blonde hair were also stained a crimson red. Anna saw the knife clutched in her hands and looked down at Nola, who was unrecognizable. She dropped the knife.

"You may have overdone it..." The Joker advised, "Just a little..." He closed one eye and pinched his fingers together.

"No... what did I...?" Anna could hardly breathe. She ran out of the warehouse. The Joker laughed and did not follow her. What had she done?

Anna rushed down the streets of Gotham, she had no idea where she was and much less who she was. She ran down an alley and burst into an abandoned building. She happened to rush into a dingy, white bathroom. She clawed at her face and head. Suddenly, she made eye contact with herself in the mirror. She flexed her fist and punched the mirror, causing it to shatter. Anna curled up on the ground and looked herself over. She looked at her arms, the scars from the year before when she'd been pushed through that glass door. The scars seemed to form some sort of shape. Anna grabbed one of the glass shards and began slicing away at the flesh of her forearms. She cut deep and hard. Her own blood ran down her arms until she could barely make out the scars.

After savagely cutting her arms, she stumbled out of the bathroom and back into the alley way as it began to rain. She was loosing blood. She swayed back and forth as she slowly walked. Then she remembered, the one thing she had brought with her. That emergency button Bruce had given her a year ago. She pulled it out of her shoe and pressed the button. Within moments after, Batman stood in front of her.

"Bruce!" She said, stumbling into him, gripping onto his cape, "The Joker he... he killed her... he-!"

"You can tell me later, you need some medical attention." He noticed. Batman placed an arm around Anna and swung from building to building. All Anna could hear was her breathing, she was loosing blood fast. She felt the wind blow against her face and hair until they reached Wayne Manor. Anna could no longer stay awake.

…...

Anna awoke in her own bed, some tubes were plugged into her left arm containing clear liquids. Bandages were wrapped around both of her arms. She looked around and saw Bruce sitting next to her bed.

"Anna, what happened?" He asked.

"The Joker took me." She said, "I-I didn't know what to do."

Bruce closed his eyes and opened them, heavily sighing, "I'm sorry Anna. Did he take you to a warehouse?"

"Yes." She replied with a nod.

"Robin called." Bruce explained, "He said that your mother was found murdered in that warehouse. I take it the Joker was pressuring you."

She nodded without a word. Bruce leaned over and kissed her forehead, "You're a brave woman, Anna. Just like your Aunt was. I'm going to take out these tubes. Don't worry, they were only to give your blood volume." He detached them from her arm, "You lost a lot of blood. But you should be back to normal now." He coiled up the tubes and took them with him. He went towards the door, "I'm leaving this door open. I'll be back to check on you in a bit."

"Bruce?" She called after him.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to fight crime." She stated plainly.

"Hm." He was unsure of what to make of it, "Any particular reason?"

"Tonight kind of..." She thought for the right words, "Changed me..."

"I see." He replied, "You'll be much safer. See you tomorrow, Anna."

"Okay." She said back, watching Bruce walk out of the room. She listened to the rain outside her window and shut her eyes for a moment. She recalled Nola's final moments under the knife. At the moment she was sure Nola was dead, she didn't care, she just kept slicing and slicing until she felt satisfied. Anna smirked at the thought and opened her eyes.

She climbed out of bed and walked over to her closet. She still felt a little woozy. Her blood-stained dress was nowhere to be found. But that's not what she was looking for.

**END CHAPTER NINE**


	10. Changement

**Hello there readers, had fun writing this one, hope you all enjoy it. :)**

**This chapter has no Batsy or Joker in it, it's strictly character development and lord did I enjoy writing it. It's darn good readins.**

**Enjoy as chapter ten unfolds in the madness...**

**...**

**Chapter Ten: Changement**

Anna pulled her black, stage tutu and the suit Bruce had given her out of the closet. She began ripping the feathers from the skirt of the tutu madly. The feathers fell in a neat pile on the floor. Cutting a deep V into the neckline of her protective suit, she began to stitch the feathers to the neckline of the suit until she was satisfied. She bagged the rest of the feathers, stuffing them underneath the bed, surely she'd find a use for them eventually. Glancing at the gloves he'd given her, she recalled her manager having given her something.

"_Anna, you've earned the talons." He said, handing her silver finger talons._

"_What are these for?" She asked, taking them._

"_Because you dance with all the grace of a true swan. And a true bird has talons. These were passed down to me by my grandfather." He explained, "They are also truly a weapon. Be careful. If you sharpen them they could hurt you." He laughed at the thought of her sharpening them._

"_I'm not sure I understand." She replied, smiling, "But thank you."_

Anna pulled all five of them out of her nightstand. After sharpening them, she stuffed them into the left glove. She had no intent of fighting criminals, just what was a criminal anyway? The Joker had told her the truth, had he not? It was Batman, no, Bruce, who had held back the truth from her. Angry at the thought, she jerked her hair up in a sloppy, yet attractive style with pieces still hanging in her face. Anna schemed as she placed the black and silver makeup around her eyes and the deep crimson/black lipstick on her lips. She wanted to find Charlie Crock and destroy him as he had helped participate in the almost destruction of her family. She knew exactly where he lived. Nola had drug her there multiple times before, claiming she "needed something" and Charlie had it. It wasn't hard to figure just what that "something" was.

She cut the bandages and cleaned the dried blood off of her arms. She examined her new scars she had made not so long ago. Admiring the feather designs now permanently embedded into her arms. Slipping into her new suit, she looked herself over in the mirror. She was fond of what she saw, so she blew herself a kiss and hopped out the window into the darkness of the night. Merrily, she crept down the alleyways of Gotham. Glancing inside a jewelry store, she noticed a crown. A gorgeous, full circle crown made out of pure silver with smooth, oval shaped diamonds on it. Wasting no time, she shoved her talons through the glass and borrowed it. It hung crookedly to the side on her head. Alarms began to go off, she figured it was best to make her escape.

…...

On the bad side of the city, in 1053 Apt. 73 Ranten St. on the seventh floor, lived Charles Lawrence Crock. His apartment was covered with a film of smoke, as Charles was a chain smoker. The carpet was stained with whatever may have dripped onto the floor. Leftover takeout Chinese and empty beer cans graced his tables and counters. Flies buzz over the trash can that hasn't been taken out for weeks. Rats and roaches scurry and flick across the floor in broad daylight. Neighbors yell and carry on with each other and listen as others do the same through the paper thin walls. Drug deals abound and rent rarely is paid. Vandalism happens often from day to day. Yes, Charles lived on the bad side of the city.

Charles jumped up from his sleep as he heard the buzzer ring. He buzzed back.

With a yawn he answered, "Hello...?"

"Hi." A womanly voice said over the line, "Charles?"

This peaked his interest, "Yeah? Who is this?"

"Oh... just a little bird that heard about your services..."

"Heh..." He thought, "A bird, huh? ….C'mon up babe... be sure to knock twice."

Charles looked himself over in the mirror. He slicked his greasy hair down and ran his hands over the scruff on his face. If it were his usual female fixes of the night, they wouldn't care what he looked like. If it were Nola, she'd care for sure. Whatever the case, he'd have to make due with himself because the two taps just landed on the door. Charles opened the door, only to be shocked by what he saw. A dark and gorgeous woman stood in front of him, dressed in a tight black outfit with a pleasantly low neckline.

"Well, hello momma..." He said, dumbfounded, looking her up and down.

"Is that a greeting or complement?" She asked, hardly amused, "Either way, I'm not impressed." She pushed her way inside.

This snapped him back to reality, "Alright, alright..." He pulled himself together, "So, what's your story, honey?" Charles watched as she perched herself on the corner of his couch, tilting her head and looking away slightly. Her chin lightly rested on her right hand. Her eyes peered sideways at him, and seemed to watch his every move.

She sighed and explained briefly, "My stepmother's boyfriend has been causing my whole family quite a lot of trouble lately." She sat her left hand lazily on the arm of the couch, "And, uh, it would be rather... mmm, nice, if he just fluttered out of my life... forever."

"Stepmom's boyfriend, eh?" He cleared his throat, "Well, you've come to the right place, sweetheart." He walked over to his pantry and proudly opened the door, revealing cheap generic foodstuffs. Unimpressed, she looked away from him. "Darn thing..." He muttered under his breath and slammed it shut, turning the knob again. He opened the door again, this time revealing a rather high-tech looking setup with various syringes, vials and containers with dark liquids in them. She locked her eyes back on him. "Tah-dah, just had this installed last week." He stated, quite proudly.

"Oh my, Mr. Crock..." She feigned surprise, "How could you possibly afford such a thing?"

"Heh heh... well, I got this, err..." He attempted to think before he spoke, "Lady friend who lives on the up and ups on the other side of the city."

"Ohh, I see." Her eyes flicked around the room, looking at everything. Clearly, she was disinterested in the conversation.

Charles could see this could potentially be going nowhere fast, he cleared his throat again, "So, whaddoya need?"

"Poison." She stated plainly.

He clapped his hands together, "Now we're talkin', little lady!" Grabbing four vials, he brought them over to the coffee table. Knocking the Chinese boxes aside, they clinked as he sat them down gently.

Charles held up the first vial after stuffing some Chinese in his mouth, "This one is what I call the slow but sweet, works every time. Stick a couple drops in his morning cup'a joe and he'll be gone in two weeks tops. Great if you want someone to feel as if they're coming down with some creepin' crud. And then..." He sliced a finger across his neck, "They're gone."

"Anything stronger?" She immediately inquired.

He swallowed the food, "Naturally." He sat down the first and picked up the next, "This here is the sleeping beauty. Give'em a dose of it and the next time they go to sleep, they ain't wakin' up."

She nodded her head a few times.

"Still not strong enough, eh?" He moved on, "You don't wanna mess with this next one. I call it bloody Mary. It may not seem to work at first, but after a few hours, it causes some major internal bleeding. Heh..." He thought for a moment, "A friend of mine and I used it this one time and the poor sap bled out of every opening in his body, it was a total bloodbath."

She raised one of her eyebrows at him, intrigued.

"And finally..." He seemed to have an inner sense of pride from this one, "Death's claw. The deadliest poison Gotham has ever seen. Immediate affects include, loss of voice and death to immediately follow."

"Hmm..." She took it all into consideration, "Have you ever used all four?"

"At the same time?"

She nodded.

"Don't see why you'd want to." He gave it some more thought, "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. I mean, this guy must've really, really done you some serious wrong. I can't imagine the absolute pain all four of those might cause a person!"

She smiled at the thought, "I'll take all four then."

The sweat was apparent on Charles' brow as he wiped it away, "Whew! I'd hate to be that guy!"

She stared at him, causing an awkward silence.

"Heheh, okay then..." He placed a hand on the back of his neck, "Let's talk price!" This seemed to make him relax again. "So normally I charge-"

"Question." She interrupted.

"Uh... y-yes?" He stammered.

"I read the newspaper this morning, apparently Kevin Dawes died last night at midnight." Her left hand began to lightly caress the armrest, her talons making a slight scratching sound.

"Y-yeah? What of it?" His eyes shifted and his hands began to twitch. He hadn't noticed those long, silver talons before.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that, would you?" She pressed.

He thought for a moment, "Right... anyways, as I was saying, I normally charge about-"

Her talons dug deeper into the couch, leaving obvious scratch marks, making him all the more uncomfortable, "He was married to... uh, Nola? Was it?" She asked, her head tilting back and forth in a controlled manner.

He fanned his hands outward, "I wouldn't know. And I don't see how this is relevant to our deal here..."

Scratching deeper, it began to make an awful screeching sound against the wood inside the armrest, "A little birdie told me that he actually died of poison." Her eyes began to lock on him again, "Sounded awfully like your slow but sweet, am I right?" The scratching continued.

"It's against my policy to talk about previous clients." He said quickly and nervously, "And would you STOP that?!" He gestured towards her talons.

With that she leapt from her perch and onto the coffee table, grabbing all four vials. She rushed at him, knocking him over. She swiftly places the vials into a pocket as he scrambles to get up.

"So that's how it is, huh?" He faced her. She was small in comparison to him, of course he could take her. Or so he thought. Charlie rushed at her, tossing a haymaker with his right arm. With fast reflexes, she dodged to the left, grabbing his arm, and hitting it with her left elbow, breaking his arm. He stumbled backwards against the wall, screaming out in pain and clutching his elbow, which now bends the wrong way. She slammed her right foot into his left arm and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck with her right hand, completely pinning him to the wall. She then pierced one of her talons through his right ear and into the wall. He grimaced in pain.

"AAAHH!" He yelled as she slightly pulled on his ear. He quivered as he watched her eyes level with him.

"Gee, Charlie, how'd you get yourself into this mess, hmm?" She asked with an oh-too-pleasant overtone to her voice.

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" He yelled out.

"Listen, I know you've been having an affair with Nola." She pulled his ear a little more and continued as he squirmed, "And I also know that you were scheming to get Kevin's fortune. So don't jerk me around slime bag!"

"Okay okay!" He yelled, squirming all the more, "I did it! I did it! I gave Nola the poison to kill Kevin Dawes, okay?!"

She glared her eyes at him, "Oh no, not okay, Charlie." She stuck yet another talon through his ear and a stuck a third into his shoulder.

"AAAAAHHH!" He gritted his teeth, trying to absorb the pain.

"Why did you want to kill Anna?" She demanded.

"AAAHH! Oh god..." he could barely get himself together, "W-we found a will..." his eyes teared up and tears made their way down his face.

She sunk her talon deeper into his shoulder, "Well?! What did it say?!"

He grimaced all the more, "A-Anna was going to inherit everything once the old man died... p-please stop!" He begged.

She stopped in thought for a split second. It all made sense and it was almost a good plan. Except they hadn't counted on little, sweet Anna Banana coming back for the kill.

"Who's your supplier?" She demanded, "Where do you get your poison?" She knew Charlie didn't have the smarts to go out and make the poisons himself.

"T-t-t-the sewers!" He whimpered like a small child.

Digging in the rest of her claws, she threatened, "You better not be lying to me, Charlie."

"I'll tell you all about it! Just promise me you'll let me go! Please!" He begged.

"Oh, I'll let you go alright, Char-lee..." She pulled out her talons and released her grip on his neck, relieving a little tension. He sighed lightly, noticing she still had his left arm pinned against the wall.

"Just go to the sewer directly behind the old beet cannery on the north side of town. Dr. Jones is down there, he's who you're looking for. Tell'em I sent you." He said through his teeth, "There, I told you, now will you please just let me go?"

"Of course, but first..." She had pulled out all four vials, all of which were open and sitting in the windowsill, "I need to try out my new poisons."

"What?! NO!" He yelled at her.

Dipping a talon into the first vial, she added, "Hm, no syringe... guess this'll have to do." She scratched him on the cheek with the drenched talon.

"OH GOD! That BURNS!" He yelled.

She dipped the same talon into the next vial, "One for the money..." She said, "And two for the show..." She scratched underneath the previous wound. He screamed out in agony.

Taking no note of his pain, she continued on with the third vial.

"Three to get ready..." She went on, scratching him a third time. The wounds began to froth.

"Ooh..." She commented, "You didn't tell me about that effect."

He whimpered in pain, "Y-y-you're crazy! Who are you?!"

She slowly dipped her talon into the last vial. Without breaking skin, she brushed his cheek with the talon, "Ohh, Charlie, haven't you ever seen Swan Lake?" He shook his head frantically, hardly able to listen to her.

"I'm the Black Swan." She stated, "And I'll destroy you." Stabbing him in the chest with her talon, she pushed him out of the apartment's open window. His screams were cut short as the poison overtook him.

Smiling with sweet satisfaction, she emptied the pantry full of poison and headed back to Wayne Manor to drop off her newly acquired tools inside her room.

**END CHAPTER TEN**


	11. The Black Swan (pt 1)

**Hello everybody, it's that time again...**

**New followers/favorites/etc. and a new chapter...**

**SHOUT OUTS! ^0^**

**L van Am... totally reminds me of V for Vendetta.**

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**Anywhoop... enjoy as chapter eleven unfolds and goes deeper down the rabbit hole of insanity...**

…**...**

**Chapter Eleven: The Black Swan (pt. 1)**

The Black Swan crawled through the window into her room. She looked around quickly and pulled bed away from the wall. After slicing open a square of the drywall, she stuffed the poisons into the wall, cushioning them with a nearby blanket. Satisfied, she placed the square back into the wall and pushed the bed back against the wall to hide the damage. Suddenly, she heard a tap on the door.

"Ms. Dawes?" It was Alfred.

"Hm?" She was startled.

"Is everything alright in there? I thought I heard something." He asked, leaning into the door.

She slowly backed into the bathroom, cracking the door, "Yes! I'm just... taking a shower!" She turned on the shower.

"At this hour?"

"Yeah! You know..." She thought up a reason, "To... calm my nerves."

"Young people these days." He muttered to himself, "Very well. Master Bruce is up and out at this hour as well."

"Probably out carousing the town." She answered, assuming Batman was probably on the prowl, she'd have to be wary of that little detail on her trip to the sewers.

"Goodnight, Anna. Have a pleasant..." He thought for a moment, "Shower."

"Goodnight!" She called back. After she was certain he was gone, she turned off the water and began to head to the sewers. Dr. Jones was in for a visitor.

…..

The Black Swan continued to the north side of town. She kept to the shadows, dodging the police and any other person who may see her. Staying out of their sights proved to be a cinch, Batman was her true concern for the evening. There it was, the old beet cannery. Large old signs graced the sides of the building, scuffed and obviously worn out. Sayings like "Beets!" and "Even more savory than the market!" were all over them. What a big fuss to make over beets. Not to mention, the north side of Gotham was possibly the most inactive part of the town she'd ever seen. With places like this, it was no wonder. The Swan continued down the right side of the building, scraping her talons against the brick wall. There it was! The man hole leading down into the sewers. Caution tape was strapped across the top of the metal door. To assure herself she wasn't being watched, she looked all around her, especially on the rooftops. Ripping the caution tape off, she lifted out the metal cover. Lowering herself down, she was now inside the sewers.

The smells within were nearly unbearable. Then again, she was in the waste system of Gotham, what more could she expect? She continued along the concrete path next to the bubbling, disgusting waters. She considered calling out for Dr. Jones, but thought it to be a foolish idea. For all she knew, this could be the breeding grounds for criminals, or... wait, what was that moving in the water? Unable to see through all the smelly muck, she glared for a moment. Had something moved? Or was she just going insane from the stench? Keeping along the path, she turned to the right, surely there was a platform somewhere. This Dr. couldn't be a legit doctor in her mind, it was likely he was a black market doctor, running the various steroid and poison operations among the criminals. She half expected an attack on her. And an attack it was.

Something large lunged out of the sewer water at her. Without looking at her attacker, The Black Swan jumped over it's attack, kicking whoever it was in what must be the face and landed on the other pathway. Deep, abnormal laughter echoed through the sewers as she ran down the concrete path. Whoever, or whatever, it was submerged back into the sewage. She could barely make out a dark shape in the water, pursuing her as she ran. The creature re-emerged out of the sewage, this time she got a good look at it. Her heart nearly stopped with fear. It was a beast. She, and she assumed Gotham, had never seen anything like it.

Dark green scales, some metallic, were all over its extremely large and muscular body. He was the height of two Bruce Waynes put together. And she was already half Bruce's size. A metallic brace was around his neck, some chains were hanging off of it. It was obvious to her that someone had already tried containing him. It looked like it could have previously been a man, but the face... oh that horrible face. Bright yellow eyes stared at her, glowing in the darkish light. And that mouth...that terrible, awful, gigantic mouth. Freakishly large teeth with no lips, drool constantly dripping off the lower set. It was lunging for her. Overcoming her fear, she ran off the wall and jumped towards the path on the other side, kicking it in the face again.

"HA!" His laughter boomed, "HAHAHAHA! Come back here, little duck!" He kept lunging for her until... he caught her, pinning her against the wall, "Ooh, this is the prettiest meal I've had in awhile! HAHAH!" His voice made her blood run cold. His hands were massive, engulfing her entire body with only one of them. He began to squeeze.

"Dr..." She managed to squeak out as she slowly began to lose her breath.

"Yeah, you're going to need one shortly." He commented, "But unfortunately...for you..." His breaths were haunting and heavy, his teeth mere inches away from her, "I need a meal." He opened his mouth, as she heard a light sound of glass breaking, her head was almost in his mouth, this was it...

Suddenly, he stopped. Pulling his mouth away from her, he closed it and sniffed the air. He stopped squeezing her, she could breathe again. She was unsure of what, exactly, it was that he smelt in the air. All she could smell was that of death and sewage.

"What..." He looked at the sidewalk, noticing a broken glass vial. It was the poison she'd put in her pocket from earlier, "I recognize that smell... mmm... poison." Now he began shaking her, "Where did you get this?!" He yelled at her, demanding an answer.

"I-I..." She was trying to catch her breath, finally she answered, her lips trembling with fear, "Charles Crock sent me here to see Dr. Jones."

He stopped a moment, then dropped her onto the sidewalk, "CHARLES?! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" He couldn't contain his laughter, "THAT slimey little weasel?! I haven't done business with him for a while! HAHAH!..."

Hah, slimey, it was funny for a thing covered in sewage to call someone like Charles a slimer. But it was true, Charlie was rather greasy before his untimely death.

The thing was finally able to maintain himself, wiping a tear from his eye, "Well, little duck... what can I help you with? Dr. Waylon Jones, at your service. Most know me by Killer Croc."

Pulling herself together, The Swan looked at him, "Hold on a second, _you're_ Dr. Jones?"

"Did I stutter, little duck?" He asked, looking impatient.

"N-no." She calmed herself and returned to her normal, cutting wits, "First of all, Dr. Jones, I'm the Black Swan, AND I'm here for a little... self enhancement. Show me my options."

"Demanding of you, isn't it?" He breathed heavily, "I could kill you right here, right now." He threatened, then added, "But I like you, little duck. You've got more guts than most of the rats I do business with on a day to day basis." He offered his back to her, "Jump on... and make sure you keep those claws to yourself...or I'll finish what I started earlier." As if she would try anything after almost getting eaten.

He walked the two of them back to the platform she'd been looking for. It was much further from the entrance than she thought. She was sure she would have never found it on her own. She dismounted the beast. There seemed to be a little living area he'd made for himself and a sort of makeshift lab next to it.

"Let's see here..." He continued to breathe in that heavy way he usually did as he looked over the various bottles of liquids on his desk. "No...not this one..." He muttered to himself as he rummaged through them. "Ah! This one!" He picked up a bottle full of a reddish-black liquid. Croc filled an empty syringe with the mixture, then abruptly turned and faced The Swan. He roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

"Ah!" She started, as he slammed the full syringe into it, injecting her with the whole amount. She cringed with pain, then jumped back and grasped her arm as soon as he let her go.

"What did you do?! What was that?!" She yelled out. Then suddenly, her eyes began to hurt. Her vision blurred. She looked down at the ground and blinked repeatedly. Everything kept getting darker and darker until she could no longer see.

"I gave you no permission to do that!" She yelled at him, falling to her knees.

"Hehehe... HAHAHAH!" He laughed, "You said you wanted enhancement...you didn't say where or when, did you?"

She rubbed her eyes, and tried opening them. Now all she saw was a dark crimson. Liquid fell from her eyes. She wondered whether or not it was blood. It continued to drip out onto the ground. Her head began to ache severely as she screamed out from the intense pain. She could hear Killer Croc chuckling to himself. What if she had been wrong? What if his intent were to kill her? But he'd already said he wanted to eat her if that were the case. The pain began to go away as she blinked her eyes multiple times. Her eyes flashed wildly around the area. The redness began to fade into normal colors. She looked at the Croc.

"You wanna be a duck?" He asked rhetorically, "You gotta see like a duck."

Everything she looked at was far, far sharper than ever. She could see the hairline cracks in the concrete post that must be at least 30 feet away. She could see the tiny eyes of a roach as it surveyed it's surroundings. It was almost scary how well she could see.

"What is this? What did you do?!" She was unsure if it were good or bad.

"Nothing I haven't already tried on myself." He explained, heavy breaths in between, "Back when I thought I needed to change... back when I thought I was some sort of freak..." He stared at her a few moments as she got herself together, "But really... it's those pretentious idiots of Gotham who are the REAL freaks..." He took a good look at her face. "Heh, it's a good look for ya."

"What...?" She crawled over to a nearby broken mirror, she jumped back in shock, looking herself over. He hadn't mentioned the physical change it was going to cause. Her eyes were colored exactly like those of a literal black swan. Red irises surrounded by black. Her pupils were much bigger than before. Her eyesight had drastically improved and the new look blended perfectly with her outfit, but she was unsure if it was entirely worth it or not.

"It's permanent, duck." He stated, "There is a..." He gestured with one of his massive hands. "Serum I've made that makes the appearance go away. But only for a few hours."

"A few hours?!" She wasn't sure what to think. But she knew she needed the serum, as soon as Bruce and Robin passed through her thoughts.

"Hahaha HAH! That's right..." He offered, "Listen, little duck... you pay the clown a visit for me, he's got something I want... and I give you an unlimited supply of the serum and...if it suits me...another little 'enhancement' you may be interested in." The clown? No. He didn't mean the Joker, did he? After what she'd done in front of his very eyes, she was unsure if she wanted to see him again this soon. But, since she needed that serum, she had no choice. Plus, she couldn't help but to be intrigued by this other "enhancement" the Croc mentioned.

"What does he have?" She inquired.

"It's a special jar of chemicals." His eyes glared, "That idiot clown took it before I had the chance to put it to good use."

"I see..." She thought and looked at him sideways, "Why not make another batch of the stuff?"

"He took my formula along with it..." He huffed an angry breath through those large teeth, "Stupid clown. If I ever see him again, I'm having clown surprise for dinner."

"Hmm..." She thought about it, "Oh... before I go get your little chemical jar... Charlie didn't have the... mmm... 'time' to tell me what the other poisons do. He showed me four of them that all kill in different ways... any comments?"

"Yeah... Charlie never was a bright one either..." The Croc still looked humored at the thought of Charles Crock. He shambled over to his desk and pulled out a little booklet, "Here," He handed it to The Swan, "This should tell you everything you need to know..."

"Why, thank you." She smirked, placed it into one of her pockets, and headed for the concrete pathway, "I'll be back with your jar... Crockie."

"Crockie? HAHAHA!" He boomed out loud. "That's a good one, little duck! And bring me a snack when you come back!" He called after her.

…...

**END CHAPTER ELEVEN**


	12. The Black Swan (pt 2)

**Hellooo everybody, sorry it's been awhile. BUT, this chapter kicks butt! At least, the characters in it do. XD I had too much fun writing it, as I always do. Hope you all enjoy it... and, of course, SHOUT OUTS!**

**anne's creations...I love your profile picture 3 Gawgeous!**

** pagliasamantha...because you are so awesome! :D :D :D Triple the smiles, triple the awesome...**

**Alrighty... enjoy as chapter twelve unfolds in the madness that is The Devil's Waltz...**

…**...**

**Chapter Twelve: The Black Swan (pt. 2)**

She crept out of the sewers, each step light as a feather. Her new eyesight was so keen and clear, she found herself running just to see more. Croc had really done something for her, or to her rather. His words to her rang through her mind, "It's permanent, duck... you pay the clown a visit for me... and I give you an unlimited supply of the serum..." Something about seeing the Joker again intrigued her. What would he think of what had happened to her? Would he even remember her? She had, after all, left him laughing over her stepmother's mutilated corpse. She had been so frail the last time he'd seen her, yet he knew just how frail minded she was. Anna was determined to prove him wrong, she'd prove him wrong as her true identity – The Black Swan. She felt little Anna disappear inside herself, everything had changed, everything was different.

Suddenly, she saw a black limo creeping down the dark streets of Gotham. Not just any limo, but _the_ limo she'd spent with the Joker not too long ago. She even recognized the mask the driver wore, that silly clown mask. Smirking, she ran in front of the limo as if to challenge the driver. She stood in front of the lights to make her presence known, the driver began to speed towards her. Running down the right side of the vehicle, she dug her claws into the side of it and jumped on the roof. Breaking the passenger window, The Swan crawled inside the still moving limousine. She stuck her claws into the thug passenger. Throwing him out the window, she took his seat. The driver did a double take. She saw the fear in his eyes. Slinking over to the other seat, she straddled the driver. She stared past the mask, as if into his very soul.

"I can't see!" He tried to look past her, swerving all over the road. "Are you crazy, lady?!" The thug driver screamed, still trying to focus on the road.

She grabbed him by the collar as the limo came to a screeching halt, "Listen, you're going to take me to see that Joker boss of yours." Tilting her head to the left she continued, "Or... you might end up a little snack for Doc Croc in the sewers..."

"N-n-no!" He shouted, there was no way he wanted things to end like that, "I-I'll take you! I promise!"

Slinking back into the passenger's seat, her voice struck fear into his heart, "Quickly." She demanded. As quick and cautious as he could, he took them to the Joker's new hideout.

…...

Batman scoured the streets of Gotham. Something seemed to be awry. The Joker had taken Anna three times now, with no real reason. Then again, that's just the way he was. What could she possibly have to offer him? Perhaps it was just to cause problems for Batman. But if that were the case, Batman's identity would be revealed as Bruce. Did the Joker know? He couldn't. If he had, Batman supposed Joker would have shown up in his home, probably in the cave laughing as he destroyed everything.

A figure then caught Batman's eye. Slender, blonde and threatening, he watched her.

"Lucius." He said.

"Haven't heard from you in awhile." Lucius commented.

"Yeah, about that... I think I've found the little crown thief." He stared her down, watching as she scratched the limo and soon after jumped through the window.

"What's that got to do with any—" Lucius was cut short.

"I get the feeling there's a bigger problem on our hands." Batman's concern was apparent, "Whoever this woman is, she's managed to steal a crown and just now hi-jacked one of the Joker's vehicles."

"I got some news for you, Bruce." His voice sounded heavy, "Charles Crock was found dead. Poison in his system. He also seemed to have fallen out of his apartment window."

"Charles Crock?" He thought out loud, "That was Nola's squeeze on the side. Hmm..."

"How's Anna?" Lucius got to the point.

"Just checked in with Alfred, he said he checked up on her. Only thing out of place is she was taking a shower at an odd time." He explained, "Lucius, she has nothing to do with any of these crimes. The Joker's jerked her around enough to traumatize ten people. Not to mention, he brutally murdered who she thought was her mother right in front of her."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Lucius became defensive, "I just wondered if she knows what's been going on..."

"She has no idea who her real mother is. Obtaining her original birth records would be impossible. Only Kevin Dawes knew where her real birth certificate was." He thought for a few moments more and began to pursue the limousine, "Speaking of Kevin... I'm not sure if she's heard yet..."

Lucius sighed, "Poor kid. I'd take her out somewhere and break it to her gently. Don't let the media be the one to tell it to her."

"Already ahead of you." He replied, "I'm planning on taking her out tomorrow... just her and I. Lucius, I've got to go. That limo just might give me some answers I'm looking for... I'll be in touch."

Batman flew off into the night, in hot pursuit of the limo.

…...

The Joker schemed. He schemed in his hideout, yet another abandoned building on the older side of Gotham. This wasn't any normal night, no, this was _the_ night. The night when he'd broadcast to the entire city that he was there again. An old building in the middle of nowhere, coupled with the freshly deceased corpse of one of the chiefs of the GCPD sitting behind him, an IV sticking into his arm. Everything was perfect. All he had to do was press the button to start recording. He also had made sure that this little pre-recorded film would make it onto all stations on television the next day.

"Good day, people of Gotham." He greeted with sarcasm, "I apologize for my friend here," he gestured back to the dead chief, "He seems to be taking a little... dirt nap." Giving the camera a more criminal look, he paced the room and threatened, "This is a continuation of my series of social experiments... if all the so-called 'criminals' aren't released by tonight at midnight, the blood at the-"

Before he could finish, someone knocked the camera to the floor. It skidded across the ground, still facing where the Joker stood. The Black Swan stood before the Joker at last. Gripping him by his tie, she pulled him towards her. Their lips met in an instant. Their kiss was long and full of angst. Immediately after, she kneed him in the stomach. He laughed through the pain, doubling over. The Swan walked over to the camera. Various crackles and snaps ripped through the air as her foot stomped on the camera.

"Aww..." She picked her foot up and looked underneath it, "Oops... hee hee."

The Joker got back up, heaving for air slightly. His grin stayed ever present on his face.

"What'd you do that for?" He asked, looking her over.

She stared back at him as she walked over to one of the walls. Standing casually on one leg, she leaned against the hard wall watching the Joker's every move, "Ohh, you've got another one..."

"Quite a strange bird, aren't y..." It hit him, "ANNA! BANANA!" He seemed devious and thrilled all at the same time.

"I prefer The Black Swan. I'll settle for The Swan, if you'd like." She demanded.

Ignoring her comment he went on, "You look great! Lovely crown... and is that a new outfit?" He looked her up and down, then folding his hands and looking upwards, "Oh, if only your mother could see you now!"

Scratching her claws into the wall, she seemed irritated, "If only Charlie hadn't **splattered** on the ground."

"So that WAS you! Wonderful work, if I do say so myself!" The pain in his stomach had finally calmed down.

"Thanks." She stated flatly, her calculating eyes flicked over to the dead body, "Planning on sabotaging blood at the hospital, are you?"

"You've got quite the eye there, little nightingale! What gave it away? My ol' pal over there?" He gestured at the corpse of the chief of police.

"That, and the cue cards you have set up over there." She nodded in the direction of them leaning on the wall.

"Ohh! Those old things..." He acted as if it were nothing.

"Funny," She walked over closely to him, circling him for a moment, then stopping behind him, "They look new to me..." Wrapping her arms over the top of his shoulders and leaning her head into the right side of his neck, her claws preened at his greasy hair ever so gently.

"So what brings you to my humble little abode, dovetail?" He changed the subject quickly.

"Crockie sent me to grab a little chemical jar you seemed to have stolen from him." She explained, flicking a piece of lint from his hair.

"Ohh! Riiight..." He thought a moment, and then smiled cheerfully, "It's right there." He pointed to the jar sitting on the table oh-too-conveniently.

"Hm..." She stared at it, analyzing it, her claws twitched faster in his hair, "I'll be taking that." She stopped preening his head and walked briskly over to grab the jar, packing it away.

"Uhh, everything okay, boss?" A smaller thug came into the room.

"Of course it is! Just having a little chat with The Black Swan here..." The Joker acted innocently.

"I'll be taking this as well." She said, conking the thug unconscious. She slung him over her shoulder and walked towards the window to make her exit.

"Sooo..." He pulled out one of his many Joker cards, twiddling it in his fingers, "Any _plans_ for tomorrow eve-ning?"

"Why, you have something in mind?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you know, just wouldn't want you to miss the show." He shrugged his shoulders and arms, seeming to accidentally drop his card.

She smirked, as if to say she knew something he did not, "Haven't you heard? I have front-row seats." With that, she dropped the thug outside the window, following closely after him.

The Joker laughed to himself, and reached for his pocket where he'd been keeping the real chemical jar. It had been all too easy for him to dupe her. He'd been keeping it in his left coat pocket all that time. He reached into the pocket, pulling out a black feather. Blinking a few times, he stared at it, and then abruptly began laughing uncontrollably.

…..

Back within the depths of the sewers, the Black Swan crept back to the Croc's lair, thug and jar in hand.

"Crockie..." She called for him.

The shadow she'd been terrified of the last time she came to visit, now strangely calmed her. The beast rose out of the water once again.

"I thought I picked up your scent, little duck." His eyes glared and so happened to notice the thug on her shoulder, "Aww, you shouldn't have!"

"Thought you might need a midnight snack." She handed over the unconscious thug. His large hand engulfed the thug's body. She then quickly turned away, preparing to hear the crunch of human flesh and bone.

Noticing her discomfort, he said, "Don't worry. I'll save this one for later." He grinned, baring his beastly teeth, "Follow me, little duck."

She followed him back to his lair, ready to receive what she'd set out to earn for herself – the serum. Croc sat the thug down and went over to his strange looking lab, grabbing two medium sized jars containing a bluish-type liquid. He handed them both to her, "As promised. Two drops in each eye, effect lasts for about 6 hours. Should last you a couple months. You start running low, come back with a snack."

She accepted them gratefully, "Perfect. And, about those... enhancements you mentioned last time?"

He expected as much from her, "Yeah, yeah." He turned suddenly, and started rummaging through the many vials and jars on his desk. "Ah, here it is." He stated as he picked up a small cup. The Black Swan tensed visibly as he turned back towards her. He smirked, "Don't worry. No surprises this time. Drink this." He handed her the cup full of gray, gritty liquid.

She did as he instructed and drank. It tasted like paste and concrete with a hint of hot tar. She sneered at the cup after she was finished, holding back the incredible urge to gag, "So, what does this do for me?"

He smiled, perhaps recalling when he'd first concocted the mixture, "Strength, speed, the usual stuff."

"You make it sound like every criminal on the block has had some of this." She presumed.

He chuckled, "Yeah, but they only get a quarter of the dose. Most can't even keep that down. Threw in an extra little kick for ya too, little duck."

"Oh?" She smiled back at him.

He nodded. "You should notice a sharp increase in reflexes and balance."

"Awww, you shouldn't have!" She remembered the other reason for her visit, "Oh! I almost forgot," She pulled out the fake jar, "Your chemical jar." She went to set it down and pull out the real jar, but noticed Croc was sniffing the air.

"Hold on, little duck..." He sniffed a few times more, "We're not alone."

As if on cue, a loud bang sounded, followed by a round object spewing smoke that landed in between them. "Stand back, duck!" Croc growled. Just then, another bang sounded. The Swan took note of where the flash of light that accompanied the sound came from. The Croc snarled angrily, and she quickly looked over to him. She could barely make out through the smoke that he was entangled in a net. She ran over to defend to him. Just then, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She reacted immediately, dodging the punch aimed for her head and smashing the fake jar on the back of her assailant's head. Keeping on the offensive, she then kicked him in the face, disorienting him. With a final slash across his chest with her claws, she ran over to Croc. After slicing him free of his net, the smoke began to fade. She looked around keenly for the attacker, but he was nowhere to be found. She then looked up at the Croc, who was sniffing the air.

"He's gone. Took my snack with him too." He then punched a hole in the brick wall.

"Who was it?" She asked, checking to make sure her jars were still there.

"My best guess?" He took no time to think about it, "The Bat. I've never encountered him before... until now, that is."

"Hmm..." She thought about it. Had it been Bruce? She couldn't see through all of the smoke, so perhaps it was another of the Joker's henchmen, off to retrieve the one she'd taken along with her. "How'd he find us?"

"Not sure. Maybe he followed you, maybe he's been watching me. You never know. Either way, I have to relocate." He looked down at the ground and noticed the smashed jar, and the liquid spilled all over. "Seems like you smashed the jar I sent you to get." He stated angrily.

The Black Swan smirked and briskly pulled out another jar, "Even I could smell that _that_ jar was a fake, Crockie. Here's the real one." She handed over the real jar.

"Hah!" He barked. "You're full of tricks, aren't ya, little duck?" He placed the jar on his desk.

"I'd best be getting my little gifts back home..." She grabbed her serums, "Where will I be able to find you?"

"Not sure." He thought a moment, "Guess I'll head to the west side of town. Just come down over there, call me and I'll find ya. I've always got your scent, duck."

She smirked, heading for the exit, "See ya around, Crockie baby."

The Black Swan could not have been more thrilled to have accomplished her mission. She could keep her eyesight and still look like Anna, not to mention the extra little power-ups along the way. The Swan headed back home, back to Wayne Manor.

…..

On a rooftop, several stories high, Batman slapped the thug awake. The thug panicked, realizing he had been tied up.

"B-B-B-Batman!" He blubbered.

"Where's the Joker?" He growled, inches away from his face.

"We were about to move to a different place!" He explained.

"Where?" Batman continued to interrogate.

"I-I dunno! He didn't say!" The thug continued to blubber.

"I plucked you out of the sewers and there was a woman and a beast there... who were they?"

"What?! The sewers?!" He was in shock, "Th-that's Killer Croc's turf!"

"Hm..." Batman stepped away from the thug for a moment, "Lucius, did you hear that?"

"So there is a serial killer in the sewers." Lucius confirmed.

"More like a beast. Get me all the info on him you can. Also, I heard him mention to the woman that was with him about some jar of chemicals. They were making some sort of deal."

"I'm on it. You work on finding out about that woman with him." Lucius reminded him.

"Right." He turned back to the thug, ready to interrogate him some more. The thug was attempting to crawl away. He stopped instantly after realizing Batman had all eyes on him.

"Listen," Batman continued, gripping him by the shirt, "There was a woman with Croc, who was she? What's her name? Tell me everything you know, **now**."

"Uhh..." He dithered for a few moments, trying to get over the fact that he got caught trying to get away, "I dunno, she... she came to see the boss and knocked me out cold. Guess I was almost Croc food." He shuddered at the thought.

"Her name, what was it?" Batman was growing impatient.

"Her name... aaauugh... oh... man, it was... the boss said it was..." He reached back for his memory, "Oh!" He finally remembered, "The Black Swan."

"Hm." Batman picked him up and dropped him off at the police station's front door. He flew off into the night, back to Wayne Manor.

"Lucius," He said, "Get me everything you can on The Black Swan."

**END CHAPTER TWELVE**


	13. Brise'

**Hello everybody! :D**

**Sorry this chapter has taken so long to post up, I've been working on another project... that's COMPLETELY related to this story! :D :D :D (I won't say what, but I'll be sure to let you all know when it's completed.)**

**SHOUT OUTS! To my new followers/reviewers/favorite...um...ers... WOOT!**

**NinaWoody...because you are so cool. B-)**

**xoangelwingxo...nice profile pic! :D**

**Veritaserum394...who is this "verita" and what kind of serum is it? :o**

**trudes193...trudes... true dat! ;)**

**HhopeK143... Hope K... yet another name that takes me back to Kingdom Hearts. 3**

**Communication Breakdown... whoa! Sounds like what Anna's going through right now (no spoilers intended XD)**

**Enjoy chapter thirteen as it unfolds in madness and clifhangers...**

…**..**

**Chapter Thirteen: Brise'**

Back at Wayne Manor, The Swan had returned. Hiding her prizes inside the wall, along with her syringes, she changed into her normal clothes quickly. Letting her hair down and hiding her lovely crown. Rummaging through her purse, she found her eyedropper. Grabbing one of the jars, she rushed into the bathroom. Her eyes flickered up at her reflection briefly as she unscrewed the top of the eyedropper. She dumped the clear liquid down the drain and refilled the container with the blue liquid serum she'd received from Croc. Wasting no time, she tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned her head back, distributing two drops in each eye. The sensation wasn't nearly as painful as when she'd first gotten her eyesight. Rather, it felt cool and more like ice. She anxiously watched herself in the mirror as the red and black faded to blue and white, her pupils and irises returned to normal size. The blue was far more pale than it had been previously, it was more crisp and clear looking. But it didn't matter to her, she looked normal again. She smiled at herself, as if seeing an old friend. Satisfied, Anna walked out of the bathroom and dropped her special eyedropper back into her purse. Attempting to forget her actions from that night, Anna walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it. It was five in the morning, one of the darkest hours before dawn. She'd had no sleep, other than passing out from blood loss, which hardly counts for anything.

Anna was hardly able to rest easy, considering she'd stolen goods, murdered and dabbled in what was most likely illegal drugs. Her mind swirled with dreams of the Joker, thoughts of Robin and, of course, worry about Bruce. For reasons she couldn't explain, Anna wanted to see the Joker again, in fact she ached to want to see him again. The smell of death, gun powder and unforgettable laughter was forever etched inside the fortress of her mind. Ironic enough, she also ached to see Officer Blake again. She missed him and their sweet, wonderful moments together. She longed to see that smile on his face when he saw her again. But oh, if he knew what she'd done, he'd surely never forgive her. And Bruce, he certainly wasn't suspicious, yet. But, she figured it was best to just leave such thoughts alone. So what if she'd enjoyed her night out? What happens at midnight, stays at midnight, right? Perhaps The Black Swan would dance again, perhaps she wouldn't. Pointedly, she was torn between these three men that filled her heart and her head with thoughts as well as desires she barely knew existed within her.

…..

"How long has she been in there?" Bruce asked Alfred. It was mid-morning at Wayne Manor and Anna was strangely still in bed.

"She must be very tired, sir." Alfred explained as best as he could think to, "She was, after all, showering at an absurd hour last night."

"The Joker must have gotten to her worse than last time." Bruce reasoned, "Doesn't surprise me."

"Does she know about her, ahem, fath-" Alfred's question was cut short as a satisfied looking Anna came out of her room. "Morning, Ms. Dawes." Alfred's more than proper tone was proof that they were talking about something they didn't want her to hear.

"Am I interrupting something?" Anna asked, glancing between Alfred and Bruce.

"No." Bruce answered, "We were just talking about our walk we'll take together today."

"Our?" Anna was intrigued, "As in, you and I?"

Bruce nodded and sat down the paper he'd been looking over. His robe fell open a bit, revealing the scratch marks across his chest from last nights encounter. Anna focused on him for a moment, recalling how she'd slashed someone the night before. Could it really have been Batman? This scared Anna for a moment, Bruce was like the father she never had.

"Everything alright?" Bruce asked, adjusting his robe.

"Yes." She replied immediately, then thought a moment and continued, "What were those marks on your chest, Bruce?"

"Oh, those?" Bruce thought about his reply, he didn't want to unnecessarily worry Anna. But, he also didn't want to lie about what had happened. It isn't like she would mind where they came from. Besides, she probably already had guessed that Batman was the one who got in a fight recently. "I had a bit of a run in with an oversized alligator and his bird."

"Oh..." Anna repressed every feeling she had at the moment, "I see. You ought to be more careful." She smiled, not allowing the slightest hint of fear or guilt to overtake her.

"I'll try." Bruce said.

Killer Croc was right, it had been Batman last night. What more did she expect, really? She made special note in her mind of her stalker. This probably wouldn't be the first time he'd track her down. She was just fortunate to be with Killer Croc when she was. Otherwise, he may have found out her little secret.

"Let me know when you're ready for our walk, Anna." Bruce sounded serious.

"Of course." She replied, after sipping her cup of tea.

…...

Bruce took Anna to Gotham's Central Park that day. The two of them walked along the sidewalk, listening to the breeze flow through the trees that were losing their leaves. Fall time was almost over. Winter was on its way. The sky was overcast with dark gray clouds, serving as a backdrop for the colorful, dying leaves. Anna could see the men in the distance, scooping up the raked leaves into bags. Bruce walked beside her with his hands in his coat pockets, looking up at the sky. His face looked very thoughtful and solemn. She was certain of what he was going to tell her, what she wasn't certain of was how she'd react to it. He paused his steps and faced her.

"Anna," He broke the ice.

"Yes?" Her left eyebrow raised.

"Your father, he's..." Bruce couldn't think of how to put it, then it occurred to him, "he wasn't doing very well, Anna."

"I know." She replied, "Mom stopped by the other day to tell me how sick he was."

"Was?" Bruce noticed, "Then you know what happened."

Anna's eyes teared up, "Yes." She held back her pain, staring Bruce in the eyes, "He's dead."

"It could be a homicide. I'm looking into it." He explained.

"I can't believe he's really gone..." Reality had hit her very hard, tears streamed down her face, "He was my best friend, my only companion..."

"I know, Anna." Bruce held her in his arms, "I'm so sorry." The two of them stood in the park for a few moments, holding each other as Anna pulled herself together. They pulled apart and looked at each other again.

"You know you've inherited your father's money and his mansion. It's all yours, Anna." He told her.

She nodded, wiping away the remaining tears. Sniffles came from her reddened nose, "Yes, I know."

"But you're welcome to stay with me as long as you need to." He offered.

"Okay, I need some time to think." She replied.

"Take all the time you need. I'll try and keep the press away from you as much as I can." Bruce looked over at a man who was snapping a photo of them, sighing at the thought of publicity, "First your mother and now this. I believe somebody wanted your inheritance, Anna."

"Bruce, my mother she..." Anna scrambled to explain. Her lips quivered, recalling her real mother and the way Nola had poisoned her. Quickly, she tried to knock it out of her mind. She just couldn't tell Bruce, but oh how she wanted to. She opened her mouth to speak again.

"The Joker murdered her, I know." Bruce said abruptly. Composing herself, a pained look shot across Anna's face.

In those moments, Anna realized something. She could never go back to the way things were. She'd killed Nola, Charles, stolen precious items and taken illegal drugs. She knew what the entire plot was, she knew her life was on the line all that time. Not to mention, her more than complicated feelings about the Joker. Yet, there was no telling Bruce any of it. If he knew the truth, he would surely disown her completely and perhaps send her away to Arkham. She knew she'd at least be put in prison, that much was certain. So she would keep it all a nice, neat little secret of hers.

"Listen, Anna." Bruce sounded serious again, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Robin called. He's worried about you. I think you should go out with him tonight, talk with him. Tell him everything that's on your mind. It will be good for you both."

Anna, dying to see Robin again, nodded.

**END CHAPTER THIRTEEN **


	14. Split

**Hello everybody, it's been awhile. I have awesome news... my other project mentioned from the previous chapter is FINISHED =D It is ...drumroll... a trailer for this fanfiction! WHOO! **

**It's posted on YouTube as an unlisted video... so you need the link to see it. This particular link is on my deviant art page. My deviant art name is sickeningsweet, go check it out ;)**

**SHOUTOUTS...**

**lorena123 thanks so much for the fav/follow XD**

**kat-a-pillar... I love your name! XD**

**Annnnnd... onto the story! Also... I promise the last chapter was not just mere filler ;)**

**I don't like filler chapters so I try my best to not write them, they're a waste of space.**

**So please enjoy! :D**

…**..**

**Chapter Fourteen: Split**

Anna swept a nervous hand across her slinky black dress as she looked herself over in the mirror. She was unsure if she should be going out that night. Suddenly, she remembered she needed to put some of the serum into her eyes – it was almost time. Anna pulled out her little clutch bag covered in black sequins, unzipping it quickly. Thus causing her lace sleeve, which bled onto her hand a few inches from being too long, to catch onto the zipper. Pulling roughly, the sleeve was still stuck. Finally, yanking the sleeve, she heard it rip. Frantically, she looked it over and took out her eyedropper. Her nervous fingers fumbled and the dropper fell onto the floor. Tearing up, she bent over and picked it back up. Dropping two drops into each eye, Anna made sure her eyes would be ready for the evening. Her mind trailed off to wonder if she'd be able to contain all of her recent activities and hide them from her dear Robin. If she failed to hide them, or if she even hinted at signs of knowing why everything happened, her heart would unravel and the rage she tried to hide would certainly engulf her. Anna wiped away the remaining drops on her face, unsure if they were tears or serum. With a sniffle, she walked outside to Robin Blake's car, which had just pulled up.

Sighing, Alfred came out from a dark corner he'd been hiding in and headed for the cave.

"Master Bruce," He began.

"Hey Alfred, how's Anna?" Bruce asked, typing information into a hi-tech computer, seemingly too busy to talk.

"Miserable." He held nothing back, "I've never seen someone more a mess than she is right now."

Bruce stopped typing and turned in his chair to face Alfred, giving him a look.

"Alright, alright," Alfred reasoned, "I have seen you quite a large mess." He thought a moment, "But Anna isn't out fighting crime and taking the weight of Gotham on her shoulders. She's a poor young girl in need of a father figure."

"And I'm trying to give her that." Bruce replied immediately.

"By letting her go out and-" His words were cut short.

"Officer Blake is a good man." Bruce looked serious, "Anna isn't ready to talk about what happened, but when she is, I'll be right there for her." He turned back to his computer.

"Well," Alfred took Bruce's words into consideration, "she may never be ready."

"...No..." Bruce said, "This can't be right!" He picked up his mask, which he happened to be scanning and analyzing.

"What seems to be the problem?" Alfred asked.

"I was hit over the head last night with a very important chemical jar, but this..." He stared at it, "It's applesauce."

"Is it cinnamon or the regular?" Alfred joked.

…

Robin decided to take Anna to a party that evening in an attempt to take her mind off of everything that'd happened. It was an uppity party, consisting of wine, _hors d'oeuvres_ and formal wear. The idea was that Robin would socialize Anna, get her mind off of the death of her father and mother and perhaps get her mind on more... romantic things.

Once they arrived at the party, Robin introduced Anna to a few of the people there that he knew. One couple in particular so happened to catch Anna's eye. The man was chubby, short and wore a monocle. His face scowled and he had a sort-of peasant sound to his accented voice, as his structure of sentences were horribly put together. He had with him a tall, strawberry blonde woman. Neither of them wore rings, so it was difficult to tell if either of them were married. They weren't very romantic with each other either, so dating was probably out of the question. However, they both seemed to bee-line for Anna.

After taking the cigar out of his mouth, the short man spoke, "Evenin' miss."

"Evening." Anna replied, memorizing every detail about the man. His cane looked expensive, as well as his silk top hat.

"Heh heh." He smirked, but before he was able to get out another word, Robin cut in.

"Evening, Mr. Cobblepot." Robin shook his hand, as the man called Mr. Cobblepot looked less than enthused about the interaction.

"This is Anna." Robin introduced her once again.

"Oh, I know who this one is." He pointed his cigar at her and stuck it back in his mouth.

"And who-" Robin began.

"You clearly know who I am." Anna boldly stepped in, "Who might you be, Mr. Cobblepot? And who is 'this one' with you?"

"Oh this?" He gestured towards the woman, who'd been fairly quiet the entire time, "This is Nancy."

"Pleasure." Anna said with a slight curtsey.

"Very nice to meet you." Nancy replied while smoothing her dress with both hands. She looked strained from the weight of Anna's studious eyes, and the lack of a smile on her face visibly disturbed her, "You know, we really need to get going..." She looked down at Mr. Cobblepot and back at Anna, trying to smile, "He really has NO sense of time..."

Anna smirked and thought on the last words Nancy uttered, "You know, Nancy, you remind me of my mother..." She leveled her eyes at Nancy, who was starting to look squeamish.

"Oh! Haha, really?" Her laugh was obviously forced, and she swallowed audibly. "What makes you say that?"

At this point, Robin was getting nervous and confused. He had never seen Anna act this way before. "Anna? Is everything ok?"

Anna suddenly moved closely towards Nancy's face and whispered loudly, "I hated my mother." Her voice hissed with a menacing and hateful tone.

Nancy cowered and shrunk back, clinging to Mr. Cobblepot's shirtsleeve. Her frightened eyes darted between Anna and her companion, "Who _are_ you?"

Mr. Cobblepot had been smiling the whole time. "Why, this little bird ain't gonna hurt'cha, doll face. Ha ha ha." He took a couple more quick puffs from his cigar, as if it were popcorn at a movie, "Your mother kicked the can recently... didn't she?" He pressed.

Noticing the immediate rage it caused Anna, Robin quickly grabbed her hand, "If you'll excuse us, we need to get going. **Now.**" Robin said, having watched the entire interaction in disbelief.

"Suit'cha self." Mr. Cobblepot chuckled, discarding his thoroughly used cigar.

Robin rushed the two of them outside of the large, high class building and sort-of tossed her hand aside and turned to face her, "What was that?!"

"What was what?" Anna retorted defiantly.

He gestured towards the door they just came out of, "That! All that in there!" His hands smacked to his face and ran through his hair in frustration.

"Oh, that?" Her nails plucked at the tips of her hair. "That little twit needed to be put in her place." Robin watched as she pulled out strands of hair, unsure if she was aware she was doing it or not. "She was just so... _irritating." _She glared her eyes at the thought of Nancy.

An intense dread began building inside of Robin, "Anna?" He asked quietly.

"What?" She snapped, switching her glare to Robin and clenching her fist.

He flinched, "What would have happened if I didn't take you away from Nancy?"

"Gee, Robin, I don't know..." She pondered for a moment, looking up at the stars, "Maybe I would have snapped her pretty. Little. Neck."

The ball of dread in Robin's stomach grew with every word. "Anna?" He asked gently, almost fearfully.

She turned her attention back towards him, irritated that he had interrupted her thoughts, "What now?"

"What happened to you?" He asked, wide-eyed and frightened. He had been in many dangerous situations being in law-enforcement, but he had never faced something as terrifying as this.

"What happened to me?" Her sarcasm dripped, "I've been... _enlightened_. To the truth."

The ball turned over and knotted painfully, bringing tears to his eyes, "Anna... You used to be so sweet and kind and gentle..." He felt so lost, "Anna, I..." His voice faltered, "I love you." Tears slid down his cheeks and onto the ground. He made no attempt to wipe them away.

Something clicked inside of Anna. Suddenly, she saw the terrible expression on Robin's face. He looked like he was bleeding out. What had she done? What had she done to her poor Robin? She crumbled as the weight of everything she had done pressed down on her. Her entire posture changed instantly. She faced him, her shoulders slumped and her eyes softened. She came over closely to him and held him, letting him hold her back.

"Oh Robin," She muttered out, still holding back her tears, "I love you too."

He let out a deep sigh of relief and calmed himself as best as he could for the moment, "Look, I know it's hard for you right now. It's hard for me too." He sighed, "Anna... I think you need to see somebody about this..."

Her eyebrow raised at the suggestion, what was it he wanted her to do? What right did he have to tell her to go see a shrink? Her neck twitched irritably as she remembered she was talking to Robin. She loved Robin very much and knew he only wanted what was best for her. She calmed her anger at the thought and replied tearfully, "Who would you have me see, Robin?"

"There's a... psychiatrist I know..." He explained, stroking her arms with his hands, "She's really good, Anna. I think it'd do you a world of good to see her and talk and just get all of this off your chest."

Anna deeply gazed into his eyes, "Okay." She agreed, "I'll do it... for you."

Robin smiled gently at her, "It'll be so good for you. So good for us... I promise."

…...

Two men stood in Gotham Central Park innocently bagging leaves. Both large in stature and gruff in appearance. They watched as a certain Bruce walked into the park. Along with Bruce was a small lady. The two of them spoke and the two men watched, smirking to themselves as they listened to every single word. They listened to every single word and so did the directional audio recorder hidden so very well in one of their pockets.

Bruce and the blonde lady left the park. And the two men began to have their conversation.

"You think the big guy will like this?"

"Heh, of course. This is some seriously juicy stuff."

Two thugs so happened to do something right.

**END CHAPTER FOURTEEN**


	15. Adagio

**This chapter is very short but very packed, please enjoy :)**

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**Onto the story...**

…**.**

**Chapter Fifteen: Adagio**

"Annalise Dawes therapy sessions. Day fifteen. Dr. Whistler reporting at 10:30 AM, March 29th. Client shows severe signs of depression due to the loss of her father and mother. She also shows signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder as she has an affinity for her eyedropper, as well as the way she presents herself to me and she... preens often as well. Unlike most of my depressed clients, Ms. Dawes seems to have a hidden rage beneath the sadness. I have seen shades of this in more recent sessions as Ms. Dawes claws the couch upon mention of her mother and has begun to show a slight hostility towards me... see tapes #8 and 13."

"Dr. Whistler?" A male voice inquired over the tape.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Ms. Dawes. She's here for her appointment."

"Of course, bring her in." Rustling could be heard as Dr. Whistler got up from her chair.

"Hello, Ms. Dawes. Have a seat." Dr. Whistler said with an inviting sound in her voice, "How are you feeling today, Anna?"

Anna sighed, pausing to think for a moment, "The same as yesterday, I suppose."

"And yesterday you were...?" She inquired further.

"I was okay... I _am_ okay." Anna replied.

"You seem a little distracted, Anna." Dr. Whistler observed, "Is there something the matter?"

"You're recording our little... 'chats' still?" Anna asked, all of the bother she felt within her voice.

"Of course, Anna. You did sign a contract that exclusively stated I would be recording our conversations. Besides," She explained, "It helps me in my research so I can help you to the fullest of my abilities."

"Of course..." Anna recalled the contract.

"So, Anna, you say you feel 'okay'... why don't we pick up where we left off last time?" Dr. Whistler suggested.

"Very well." Anna replied.

"We were talking about your childhood." Dr. Whistler reminded her, "Tell me about your father, Anna."

Anna seemed to relax, "My father was a great man." Her voice became weaker, "He... he was everything to me. I loved him so much... oh... dad..."

"I see. He meant very much to you. I know he loved you too, Anna."

A slight hostility returned to Anna's voice, "Oh? You knew him?"

"No," Dr. Whistler quickly packed away her sympathy, "I did not have the privilege of knowing your father. I understand your father was a very kind man."

Anna kept silent, as if refusing to speak any more on the subject.

"Hm..." Dr. Whistler thought for a moment, "What's the most fond memory you have of your father, Anna?"

Anna immediately answered, "The day he gave me this ring." She said.

"Oh, what a beautiful ring!" Dr. Whistler acknowledged, "What happened that day?"

"I was very little, five, I think." She recalled, "He told me..." It was clear Anna didn't want to become emotional, so she hesitated.

"What did he tell you, Anna?" Dr. Whistler prodded her gently.

Coming up with a way around it, Anna answered, "That isn't important. The important thing is that he took the time out of the day to spend a few minutes with me..."

"Did anything else happen?"

"Well... he was going to take me to one of my ballet classes... but..." She thought, then continued, sounding more and more irritated, "He couldn't take me."

"Who took you?" Dr. Whistler inquired, hoping Anna would answer.

And sure enough, she did so, but with menace in her voice, "She did."

"Your mother, Nola?" A slight scratching began on the couch.

"Heh... heheh... yeah." Anna answered.

"The Joker, he killed her, correct?" Little did Dr. Whistler realize what she'd just stepped into.

The scratching on the couch grew a little louder, "Oh yes, he did." No remorse sounded in her voice, "Not only did he kill her, Doctor... he mutilated her."

"You say that with such a... confident face. You do know it's alright to cry, don't you?" Dr. Whistler asked.

"..." The scratching grew louder and louder as Anna refused to answer.

"Anna? It's alright to cry about your-"

"I wouldn't cry over that woman if you paid me!" She finally burst out, "I **hated** her! I HATED NOLA!"

An eerie silence fell over the room.

"Perhaps it would be best if we continued more next week." Dr. Whistler said in shock.

"Perhaps." Anna's monotone voice added to the eerie silence. She exited the room.

"Dr. Whistler, end of therapy session 15 with Annalise Dawes."

**END CHAPTER FIFTEEN**


	16. Frappe'

**Hello everybody! Sorry it's been so long... too long. :S**

**Anyways, glad to have another chapter up. I still have plans for this story and they're still quite big. So stay tuned til the end, you're in for even more of a ride...**

**SHOUT OUTS!**

**Knightmare09, you are an awesome person, my friend.**

**Sayuri494, one of my favorite movies (if you're referring to Memoirs of a Geisha Sayuri). :-)**

**LadyJoker97, hm, a lady who is also a joker... you are beyond cool. ;)**

**FreedomWriter15, SWEET!**

**Chocoholics Unite, indeed, we do need to unite.**

**Enjoy as the drama of chapter sixteen unfolds...**

…**...**

**Chapter Sixteen: Frappe'**

"First your mother and now this. I believe somebody wanted your inheritance, Anna."

"Bruce, my mother, she..."

"The Joker murdered her, I know."

The recording ended and silence filled the air.

The two thugs gave each other knowing looks, both of them completely full of themselves. Few of their kind had actually made it this far in their regime of thugdom. Their boss sat tight in his seat and began to cackle about what his boys had brought back to him. Just those three sentences that said so much would soon prove to be extremely useful.

"Good job boys." The sinister man grinned, "You two blokes take the day off." He patted one of them on the shoulder, ignoring the other and left the room, "I've got some special mail to send off. Heh heh heh."

…..

Dr. Whistler was nearing the end of her long list of questions that she thought would last for much longer. Anna, having been quiet most of the session, began to fidget. Dr. Whistler knew she had to think quickly, or else Anna would storm out – as she usually did upon becoming bored with the session. Holding the end of a pencil to her lower lip, Dr. Whistler closed her eyes briefly. Upon opening them a final thought dawned on her, she figured it best to act on it as soon as possible.

"Anna," She began.

"Hm?" Anna turned her attention to the Dr.

"Last time we talked, you told me about a day when you were very young that your father could not take you to one of your ballet lessons, correct?" She inquired.

"Yes, I do recall mentioning something like that." Anna confirmed.

Dr. Whistler held back a sigh of relief and continued on her line of thought, remembering to hold her breath until it was over, "This may sound strange to you, and pardon me if it does, but I think it might be important to know exactly why your father could not take you that particular day."

"Hmm..." For the first time in weeks, Anna actually looked perplexed and engaged in the therapy. Did she remember the day? Of course, she remembered the entire day. She could recall everything, down to the smell in the air that day. Anna recalled the smell of her father's cologne as he hugged her goodbye – the kind he always wore. Unfortunately, she could also recall the nauseating smell of Nola's hairspray and acrylic nails freshly applied from one of her many appointments. But why oh why couldn't she remember the very reason why her father left her with that creature in the first place?

"I..." Anna started, her eyes revealing how lost and frustrated she felt, "I can't remember."

"Interesting." Dr. Whistler said, feeling as if they were finally making progress. She glanced down at her clipboard and scrawled a few notes on it, "Did he perhaps have to do something you did not want him to go do?"

"I don't know..." Anna replied, still lost.

"Perhaps something came up last minute and you cannot remember what?" Dr. Whistler tried not to pry with her words, but found the progress irresistible.

Anna sat up in her seat and more definitely stated, "I don't know." She held her head in her hands, rubbing her temples.

"Was he in a hurry? Were you scared you would not see him again?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!" Anna shouted and looked at Dr. Whistler. A phone began to ring from Dr. Whistler's pocket. She let out the sigh she'd been holding in and plucked it out, apologizing that she'd forgotten to turn it off and leave it at the front desk. Dr. Whistler turned the phone on silent and suddenly it all made sense to Anna.

"I remember..." she said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Dr. Whistler leaned her head towards Anna, "What did you say?"

"I remember!" She exclaimed and began gesturing as she spoke, as if she were still there, "I remember dad and I were having lunch together at home, Nola wasn't there yet. He was fixing me something to eat and he left his phone on the table. Dad went out of the kitchen because he forgot something..." She thought for a moment, "No, he went out to welcome Nola home..." Dr. Whistler, was at the edge of her seat as Anna dwelt on the new found memory, "But his... his phone started to ring," She looked at Dr. Whistler, "It sounded exactly like yours."

"So, what happened? Did you pick it up?"

"..." Anna thought what seemed to be hours to Dr. Whistler, who'd been waiting for something like this for weeks, Anna continued, "Y-yes, I did."

"Who was it?"

Anna's head jerked back slightly, she blinked a few times, "It was a man, I think."

"What did he say to you?"

"I'm not sure, I know dad came back inside and I handed him the phone. He looked at me and then he looked... afraid of something and I remember that because..." She thought some more, "I didn't want him to go because he looked afraid."

Dr. Whistler wrote quickly onto her notepad, "Very interesting, Anna. I think we're making wonderful progress today."

Anna managed to let a small smile eek out as she looked around, deep in thought, "Dr Whistler?"

"Yes?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I have some thinking I need to do... alone." She explained, "I'm going to have to leave early today."

Not wanting to ruin the small bit of progress they'd made, Dr. Whistler excused Anna, foregoing the extra thirty minutes they had left in their therapy time. Anna left the room to think over whatever it was that had suddenly come back into her mind.

Walking out to her car, Anna kept replaying the moment when she answered the phone inside her mind. Who called? What did he want? Why did her father look so afraid? And for that matter, why did he look directly at Anna? With all those questions in mind, Anna sat inside her car. She checked to make sure her seat belt was on and that everything in the car was safe. She rolled up the windows she'd left cracked and noticed that a black envelope was left on her passenger seat. She picked it up fearlessly and curiously. Unraveling it, she read:

Dearest Ms. Dawes,

I would like to cordially invite you to attend a private event held at my manor this evening at 7 sharp. Please dress formally and DO NOT bring a friend. I would like to discuss a few fantastic business opportunities I'm offering you. This is a once in a lifetime chance to seize one of these opportunities. You will be there, unless you want the real killer of Nola Amberly to be revealed to your precious Brucey and sweet, little Robin.

Sincerely,

Mr. Cobblepot

**END CHAPTER SIXTEEN**


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